Dank Wish
by Daka1141
Summary: I don't own any thing from dark souls or RWBY. Summary: a story about two dumbasses from Canada and the people who had to put up with them in Remnants. M rate cause I rather be safe than banned.
1. Chapter 1: Drunken Wishes

Redundant disclaimer about not owning anything in the included franchise.

* * *

The street was barren except for figures trying to get out of the pouring rain as soon as possible. After running for a few blocks, they finally found their shelter under a church overhang.

"Fuck Canadian weather!", yelled the shorter of the two as he leaned on his back against the church doors.

"T-t-told you we shouldn't go", the other frantically rubbed his palms together in an attempt to get some semblance of warmth.

"Eric, dude, it's the 12th of December, I expected snow not rain. Besides, I'd said it's worth it.", a paper bag, containing whatever bottle liquor these two initially sought out, is raised to make the point.

"Screw. You. Bach…. Why d-d-did I have you as m-m-my fr-r-riend?", Eric try to let out a sigh but the only thing that came out was the sound of his teeth clattering against each other.

"Chill dude, it's not my fault that you can't enjoy these fine ass spirit beyond the third shot."

"Shut Up"

Silence set in as the two look out toward the street, hoping that the rain would let up. Their hopes were quickly dashed as the rain continued to pour harder with flashes of lighting appearing in the distance horizon.

With a slight shrugged after a recent thunder went silent, Bach started unscrewing the bottle.

"Are you ser-r-r-riously going start drinking now?" Eric look incredulously at his friend.

"Look, the It's legal as long as the paper bag is on and it's freezing. If getting more drunk will keep me warm, then…", He raised a quick toast toward his friend and take a swig, "… so be it."

Eric opened his mouth but finding not word to say so he decided to reach for his coat pockets, pulling out a lighter and pack of cigarette. After taking a puff, he felt considerably better, psychologically or physically, he didn't care.

"All that time in boot camp and the only thing you got was an addiction", Bach chuckled.

"At least I don't smoke as often as you trying to get wasted."

"I guess I'll get cancer before you do but hey! I didn't give up like you do."

"Shut Up!"

Deciding that he has enough fun riling up his buddy, Bach shrugged and turned around, trying to read the numerous poster and pamphlet on the Church doors. Most of them were either adverts for support groups or notices that he skimmed over until one particular piece of paper caught his attention.

"Dude, check this out," he tapped Eric shoulder, directing his attention to the piece, "Give yourselves to the Goddess of Love an she'll give you all you'll ever wanted, Write your deepest wishes below."

"Seriously?" Eric made a double take on the content on the piece of paper.

"Is it referring to mother Maria or something?

"I don't know. Aren't you the more religious one here?"

"I follower Vietnamese ancestral worshipping mixed with Buddhism, and I'm not even sure I buy what ever my it sells, mate…" Bach stared at the blank lines under the statement and a smile crept on his face. He picked up the pen, tied to a pin on the door, and started scribbling on the paper.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Eric said not knowing whether or not he should stop the guy.

"I'm writing down what they want, a wish, or if they have half a brain, precious market data on how the public react to these bullshit."

"Really, what exactly are you writing?"

" _I wish to be the ashen one with all my stats and inventory on NG+4"_ , Bach let out a chuckle along with his answer.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"My character from Dark Souls 3", said Bach as he turned to his friend, "Dude, what super power would you want?"

"Seriously?", Eric took a glance at the rain then took a puff from his cigarette. He might as well humor the guy, "the power to create anything from my imagination."

" _Eric Kim - The power to create anything from my imagination using my soul"_ , the writer said as he scribbled on to the paper

"That's not what I said"

"A weakness is needed to make it sound interesting"

"Then what's the weakness for yours?"

"I come back to life after I die but I get to experience all the pain and there's a chance of going crazy and becoming a shambling zombie."

"You have too much free time", Eric said tiredly.

"Definitely", Bach started tapping his chin as for a find as he tried to find something else to troll the people who had put up the poster. "Have you watch any of those Chinese Cartoon recently?"

"You mean Anime" Eric answer with a not so subtle annoyance.

"Yeah, what was the last one you watch?"

"RWBY"

"Wouldn't it be considered as a Western cartoon?"

"Depends on who you asked, you actually watch it?"

"As you said, too much free time", said Bach as he went back to scribbling on to the poster, " _We want to be in the world of RWBY with all of the above power."_

Eric pinched his nose ridge as he read the "precious market data" his friend wrote, "You're a dick."

"And you are friend with one." Bach shrugged.

Both of them turned around to the sudden silent of he rain.

"Well look at that," Bach said as he held a hand out toward the street, devoid of a downpour from moments ago.

"Whatever, let's go", Eric stated tiredly.

Before they could take a step toward their apartment, lighting struck down in front of them. The blinding light was the last sight they saw as their consciousness was swept away.


	2. Chapter 2: Best Hangover Cure

Eric shot up from wherever he was sleeping only to drop his head in his palms in an attempt ease a splitting headache. He was also reminded to get a hair cut as his hands ran through the strands that had grown a few inches too long.

As his vision focused, Eric realized that he was sitting on a sofa in some kind of lounge with giant window along two opposite wall. Whatever outside the windows was either obscured by the crowd walking around or two bright for his eye comfortably look at. While his mind began to clear up from what seemed to be a hangover, it dawned on him that the last thing he could remember was being stuck under a church overhang with…

"ZZZZZZZZZZ"

His head whipped to the right to find his friend making the best impression of a chainsaw while soundly asleep on the couch. Without missing a beat, Eric started frantically shaking the guy back and forth while calling his name.

"Wha- fuck? Stop! Ughrtagsd…", it didn't take more than a few seconds before Bach was wide awake and nursing a hangover.

"Bach, where are we and how did we get here?" Eric asked and promptly realized the answer he would get as his friends started to look around in a fashion similar to his earlier attempt.

"Somewhere between this headache and butt-fuck nowhere, I guess", came the groggy answer in a mocking tone.

"Useless pillock", was all he could mustered to said before leaning back on the sofa, "What the hell happened last night…"

"Where ever this is, I hope it has a washroom", his friend said to no one in particular before stumbling away, leaving Eric to mulled over their predicament.

After unsuccessful attempts to backtrack through memories, he decided to check on what he has right now. He was wearing the same jeans and polo shirts as last night, including his wallet in the back pocket, but his coat was missing so was everything in his wallet except his ID which still shows his face, narrow brow eyes, glasses, black hair and everything. He immediately thought of robbery but a something in the corner of his eye quickly dashed the thought.

To his left was a large camping backpack with a name tag that wrote "Eric Kim" in large prominent letters next to a another similar backpack with Bach's name on it. Hoping to find a clues, he pulled the one for him closer and opened it to take a look inside. On top of a stack of neatly folded clothes was a large lantern that looked like it was barely able to contain a roaring flame inside, which strangely emits no heat at all. Eric took a note clipped to the side of said lantern. It read:

 _Thine power is only limited by the fuel of the flame and thine own imagination. There is no easy method to demonstrate this but through thine own effort._

 _Thy wish has been granted. Thy power given and destination realized. Now, it is time for thee, Firekeeper, to fulfilled the bargain struck with the Goddess of Love._

"What the-", before he could voice his disbelieve, an announcement interrupted him.

"30 Minutes before arriving at Beacon Academy, all prospective students, please ensure that all your luggage is with you."

Eric's heart sank as these words, "Beacon Academy", jogged his memory of Bach messing with the church poster.

"This is ridiculous", he muttered to himself as realization dawned on him, "Am I really-no no no…"

' _C'mon Eric, life isn't an Anime where you get magically transport to some fantasy world. This can't be real'_ , he thought, _'maybe… Bach is trying to pulled a fast one on me again, yeah, that's gotta be it.'_ He started looking, trying to find someone with a camera or a hidden one, if that pillock can somehow afford one.

Something caught his eyes, but rather than a camera, it was familiar a blonde boy, wearing some plate armor and shoulder guard, vomiting all over an unfortunate plant pot. It was Jaun Arc from the show. He turned the other way and saw a petite teenage girl in a crimson robe fawning over the sights from beyond the window, Ruby Rose he recognized. Further amongst the crow he could even spot a ponytail of platinum hair. Eric finally turned around to look out the window, hoping it was actually a one-way mirror. It wasn't. The sight of Vale from the air took his breath away, both because of the it's beauty and what it implied.

"I need a cigarette in my mouth", He was so flabbergasted that he truly wished for a fix. Suddenly, strings of light appeared in front of his face and started twisting into a short stick protruding from his mouth. Before he could figure out what's going on, there it was, a cigarette on his lips. Eric blink in surprise, not knowing what the hell is going in on.

' _A lighter?'_

Similar light appeared and formed a Zippo in his hand.

' _A hundred bucks?'_

A five $20 bills fell out from thin air in front of his face.

' _An Audi R8?'_

He could see a car fell out of the sky a good distance beyond the window.

' _An MG 42 with bipod and spare barrels?'_

The weapon and its attachments fell on to the ground almost hitting his feet.

Eric stood there not knowing what to think at first, then he started thinking about how this could lead to endless possibility. But after standing there contemplating for a few minute, he noticed the cigarette started shinning again and soon he couldn't felt the weight between his lips anymore. A couple of minutes more and everything that just appeared started dissintagrating in similar manner.

"Unbelievable…", He said, standing there.

* * *

Although no vomit came out as Bach dry heaved into the toilet bowl, it did somehow make him feel better and clear his head.

"Guess there isn't only one vomit boy on this airship."

"At least this one knows where to do it". Bach quickly put outside gossip aside as a piercing pain on his chest caught his attention.

After finding out that rubbing the area only make it sting even worse, he turned toward the washroom mirror and lifted his T-shirt up in an attempt to get a grip on the problem. At the spot where his heart supposed be was a metallic circle slightly bigger than a Canadian $1 coin with a letter taped to it. Touching the thing just made him recoil with from the stinging pain so he opted to carefully removing the letter off the object.

 _As demonstration of the power granted, a nail has been impaled through thine heart. Fret not as thine estus flask is placed within the unlimited storage box located in thine shorts. Regrettably, the removal of the nail will still be quite unpleasant._

 _Thy wish has been granted. Thy power given and destination realized. Now, it is time for thee, Unkindled, to fulfilled the bargain struck with the Goddess of Love._

Bach blinked a few time to make sure it wasn't the hangover but after finding the words unchanged, he gave in and started checking his pocket. He indeed found a small box the size of his palm and only half an inch deep. When he opened and put fingers into the opening, he was taken a back as his hand warped to fit in as it crossed the edge toward what seemed to be a bottomless pit. He tried putting his fingers in the box a few more time before he muttered: "Fuck it", and shove his whole hand in and grabbed something. He pulled out a jade flask containing a flowing golden liquid, an estus flask if the note wasn't a load of bull.

"You can't be serious", Bach mumbled as his brain started taking in the clues: airship, weird letter, magic box, an estus flask and the poster from last night, "This gotta be a joke…"

He stood there with his mouth agape for a bit before the ache on his chest told him there's one final way to test this out…

After an intangible scream came a series of profanity that finally ended with him hammering on the with his fist while gritting his teeth. He could felt the cold sweat on his back and the all the hair on the back of his neck couldn't be straighter but he was more concerned with what he just pulled out of his chest. His jawed dropped in disbelieve as his hand was holding what seemed to be a nine inches' stake made of solid metal and caked in dry blood, **his blood**. Bach quickly propped himself up and widened his eye at the reflection in the mirror. The short crew cut was normal, the black eyes that stared back at him through the glasses was normal; the slightly rectangular face was normal; the hole that goes from his chest, through his heart and back was not.

He hoped it was an optical illusion but that hope was quickly dashed when he tried touching the supposedly fatal wound. The pain made sure of that. He stood there looking at that mirror for what felt like an eternity then, with his mind made up, turned his head toward the bottle in his other hand, sighed and shrugged.

"Well, bottoms up"

* * *

As he walked back to the lounge while trying to rub away the phantom pain of the chest wound, Bach saw his friend standing next to the sofa, facing out the window, hands holding an opened backpack and a letter.

"Ey! Eric!", he called attention, "I think I know where we are…or where we're going."

"Let me guess", Eric turned back, "Beacon?'

"Got that from that letter?"

"Ya, part of it, unfortunately", Eric dropped back to the sofa looking exhausted.

"What? Don't like it?"

"It's fucking horrible! I just managed to pay my tuition for this term! What the hell, Bach? Why the fuck are we here?"

"Shh…" Bach jerked his thumb toward the crowd in the back before sitting down, "We got what we wished for, I guess."

"No. It. Was. Your. Stupid. Wish." Eric said gritting his teeth, "Why are you so relaxed about this?"

"Well, there's no point thinking about what happened before, best we figure out what to do now…", shrugged the guilty party, "and it's not like you got the short end of the stick, unless it only granted my wish…"

"No, my wished got granted, I can create things just by thinking of them but they disappeared after few minutes", Eric deflated as he handed his note to his friend, "How's Yours?"

"Yeah, officially Undead I guess", Bach said while handling his note and a long metal nail to Eric, "Man, you got the new the easy way."

"Ouch… that gotta hurt", came Eric's reaction to the what was written in his friends letter.

"So, found out anything else", said Bach as he rummaged through the backpack with his name.

"Found, some file saying a I'm going to be a huntsman in training. You should have the same files if I'm right"

"Yep, found it. You're a Huntsman now, Eric!"

"Are we seriously going to Beacon and do whatever Hunstman do?"

"Well, the way I see it, it's the only place we can go. Besides food is free.'

"Ughhhh… Can't believe I'm stuck in an Anime, with you no less."

"Cheer up lad, I thought you'd love to be in an Anime with cat girls and shit", said Bach as an ecstatic girl in a crimson red robe ran back and forth through the crowd leaving petals in her wake, "See, that girl got the right idea."


	3. Chapter 3: First Hit is Free

For Eric and Bach, the day played out exactly like they expected from the show. There was the general gathering in the main hall, which they were late, due to Bach's insistence on "taking in the sights". This was followed by a short speech from Ozpin, the headmaster, detailing his expectations and the upcoming initiation. "The Initiation" was the problem that was currently wracking Eric's nerves at the moment in the locker room.

"What am I doing?", he turned to his right to see Bach humming a tune while jamming an oversize backpack into a way-too-narrow locker, "How the hell are you being so calm about this?"

"Why are **you** so nervous?", came a raised eyebrow.

"You know what's going to happen at the start of this initiation thing, right?"

"Yeah, they toss student into the forest with a catapult", Bach swung an index finger forward in an arc to illustrate his point.

"And…?", Eric starred at his friend while holding his palms open to his side, "Last time I checked, we can't **fly**."

"Yeah, but you can make us parachutes, you got that nifty power, rite?"

"You seriously think I'm going to be calm enough to make us parachutes mid-air."

"I don't know", Bach shrugged, "Didn't you go sky-diving a while back?"

"I WAS STRAPPED TO AN INSTRUCTOR", his friend attitude was starting to exasperate Eric.

"Dude, chill, it's not like you and I can die anyway, well, as long as that lantern is lit."

This took Eric back a bit.

"What do you mean?"

"Well if that letters we got are right, which they have been so far, you're a firekeeper", Bach voice became monotone like he was reciting something too many time, "which means that you can't die as long as the flame is burning, and the flame can't die unless someone rip out your soul. And for me, well, that lantern is the checkpoint for when things go south and I kick the bucket."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I healed a fatal hole in my heart with a magic bottle, mate, I'm pretty sure that's convincing", Bach pulled out a jade bottle from his too-small-to-contain-anything-bigger-than-a-wallet pocket, "that remind me…Could you open that lantern up a bit."

Eric took out the lantern and start opening the hatch on its side, curious on what his friend was trying to do. He jerked his hands back when the flame inside flare out, yet it neither burned nor produced heat. In fact, it made him felt quite refreshing from being near it. Bach quickly held the bottle neck near the lantern and like a water, the flame started flowing into the opening, filling it.

"How did you do that?"

"It's what the flame does", Bach said as he shoved the bottle back into his pocket, somehow not making a bulge, "It heals people and fills the undeads' flasks with healing estus."

"And I'm some kind of tender for it?"

"More like being forever bound to it but yeah, same shit, different perspectives."

"So we are immortal as long as no one takes my souls?"

"Yeah, sorta, but it's still going to hurt like a mother when we land without parachutes, though."

"Yeah, yeah, okay… I'll try to make them", Eric deflated visibly as a sense of relieved from these revelations somewhat calmed him down, "Should I take this with me since it's so important?"

"Good idea", Bach snapped his fingers, "don't wanna respawn inside a locker later on."

Eric nodded and start looking around his sides and quickly found out that the belt around his jeans had some sort of clasp. He hooked the lantern handle to it, and voila, the thing was now hanging comfortably beside his hip.

"All good?", Bach asked expectantly from the bench.

"Ya, I'm good."

"Let's go then". Bach pushed himself up and started walking toward the exit with Eric following behind.

They passed by the commotion created by the appearance from Pyrrha and other people they known from the show but paid them no mind. For Eric, it was best not to mess around with canon and Bach just couldn't bother to even to take a look.

* * *

"PARACHUTESPARACHUTESPARACHUTESPARACHUTESYOUFUCKHEADPARACHUTESPARACHUTES"

Bach's voice rang as they were flung through the air while Eric's eyes were wide open, both body and mind paralyzed by fear.

"GODFUCKINGDAMNITERICMAKETHEPARACHUTESNOWYOUFUCKTARDPARACHUTES"

The tree tops were rapidly approaching sucking away any thoughts and painting a blank in his mind.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH", a sudden girlish scream pierced the air, breaking the terrifying spell's holding on Eric.

Eric quickly squeezed his eyes shut, his mind free from the stupor and he felt the a sudden jolted upward.

After feeling the deceleration for a few seconds, he slowly opened his eyes and look upward. A wave of relieve washed over as the colorful parachute, similar from the skydiving instructor's, filled his vision.

"Well, shiieeeet", he heard Bach's voice and turned to look, "Better fakking brace boys!"

Eric looked down and realized they was still going a significant pace. Arms quickly cover his, eyes shut and the following land was nothing but rough as tree branches battered his body all the way down. By the end of it, Eric was hanging a few meters off the ground and Bach was a few feet away in a similar predicament.

"Ugh….", he grown, letting his body back and forth, drained of the adrenaline.

"Dude, where did you put the release on this things?", Bach hollered as he was already checking his parachute's rope.

"I don't think I had time to imagine a clasp on these thing."

"So… Guess we're going to _hang out_ , eh?"

"Really?", Eric visibly cringe, resisting the urge to facepalm himself, "Ugh… Just give it a few minutes…"

And give it a few minutes they did, dangling below the tree line as Bach softly sang a tune that he's had been humming for the past few weeks. To Eric's dismay, the song is permanently stuck in his head despite not knowing the name.

"Hey Bach, what's the song name?", he gave into curiosity.

"Darude-Sandstorm"

"Could you stop it with the memes and puns", he could feel the adrenaline coming back with his frustration.

"Why ask now? Is the song growing on ya?

"It's stuck in my head now", he clicked his tongue, "Just tell me."

"Clint Eastwood, by Gorillaz."

"Did they make that song? Feel Good isn't it?"

"Didn't think you'd listen to anything other than Anime song and Glitch Hop."

"Being an Otaku doesn't mean I'm culturally deprived."

"Yeah, but it does somehow mean you're socially awkward around girls tho. Do you seriously never speak to any girl you age growing up?", Eric could see Bach's perplex face from where he's hanging.

"Shut u-"

Their conversation was cut short as the chutes and strings dematerialized and unceremoniously dump the pair to the ground. Eric quickly stood up and start patting the dust, twigs and leaves off while looking at Bach, who was just lying there sprawled out like a starfish on the grass. He furrowed his brows at the sight.

"C'mon, Bach, let's go."

"I'm feeling lazy man, low on motivation at the moment."

"Do you seriously want to be kick out of the only place we can go because you're feeling lazy?", Eric started pinching his nose ridge.

"That's good motivation, alright", Bach pushed himself up, "let's ge-'

Eric was stunned as his friend was shove aside by a large black furry monster, its bony white fangs sinking deep into Bach's throat. He knew what a Beowulf looked like from the show but, to see one tearing a person apart right in before his eyes was something else, something terrifying. Then, he realized there are more, surrounding him, slowly advancing forward as Bach's screams filled the air. He wished that there's a wall between him and them as their beady red eyes trained on him. The beasts were circling their prey, watching how he shakes in the face of impending doom. The moment felt like an eternity as the screams slow turned into indiscernible gurgling noises. Then they lunged forwards.

Eric fell backward, closed eyes while trying to shield himself with his arms. He could only hear thudding and scratching noises as the world around went black.


	4. Chapter 4: When Your Squad got Together

Getting his all four wisdom teeth removed at the same time, sans anesthetic, is the only comparable thing to what Bach was feeling at the moment. Even then, it was still a far cry to the pain he was going through.

At first, he screamed and struggled as those gigantic fangs sank into his neck. For a split second, his right arm managed to pushed those jaws away only to for another to sink its maw into the arm. Then he screamed louder and lashed out wish the wounded arm. There was a glimmer of hope, as the beast was swung away from the shredded limb, only to be dashed under a torrent of fur, fangs and claws. So he screamed. Then he choked when they ripped his throat open. Finally, he could do nothing but look as his heart, lungs and what ever else was ripped and torn from his chest. There was no word to describe what he was feeling, but the wracking pain was also strangely numbing as it wracked his body limbs to limbs.

Then a sudden girlish scream rang through the forest, similar to what he heard earlier while being airborn, he recalled. Deciding he was dead enough and another prey was more attracting, the beowulfs bolted toward the source. So, he was left there, literally in god knows how many pieces. He imagined the sight must be similar to a butcher handy work right now.

After taking in the o-so-wonderful sensation for a few minutes, Bach's eyes wander to where Eric was, wondering if the guy got away safely. He would have felt somewhat glad at the what he saw, if 90% of his brain wasn't occupied with what the pain. There was a stone block at the spot which he assumed Eric created to cover himself.

A few moments later, the stone block began to dissipate and just as expected, Eric was revealed, in a fetal position. With a herculean effort, Bach managed to lifted his less injured arm up to waved the guy over, which took a while for him to noticed and his first reaction was to recoil backward and away. Bach was very un-amused and both his patient and sanity were running low, so he waved his friend over again accompany with a stare that could almost burn holes through tree trunks. The message finally got through and Eric started crawling over, stammering.

"Oh my g-g-god, oh my god, oh my god, you're still alive", the guy was trying to swallow back vomit.

Bach rolled his eye and made a clear answer through the only possible mean at the moment, a middle finger. Before Eric could fumble around in confusion any further, Bach gestured toward the lantern. Fortunately, the message got through and Eric opened the latch and flew came spewing out enveloping the mangled body. Bach felt euphoric as the golden flame knitted his wound within seconds and his clothes along with it. Then, came the stream of profanity through gritting teeth.

"FUCKINGGUCKIITTYGODAMNMOTHERFUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKTHISFUCKINGSHIT…."

"Are you okay?", Eric interrupted the tirade with a concerned voice.

"Never better!", Bach whipped his head around, voice dripping with sarcasm, "Especially when my buddy decided to box himself in instead of giving you know… A FAKKING HAND!"

"I'm sorry", Eric looked down at the ground, "I panicked…"

Bach felt his lungs swelling up again than after a short while, deflated, trying to push the raged out along with the air.

"No, no, no, no, no… You'd probably get killed anyway", He pushed himself up while rubbing his previously wounded stomach, "Haizzzz… Let's just get out of this forest."

"What about the Grimm?"

To this, they heard fighting and explosion from a far.

"They are probably attracted by that noise or the screaming girl from before", Bach waved both the concern and the smell of his own blood away.

"You mean Jaun?"

"Who?"

"Nevermind, where should we go, though?"

"Hmm… Good point…", this got Bach thinking and after tapping his chin for a bit, he pulls out a necklace from under his shirt, "Might as well test this out."

"What are you trying to do?"

"Well, this is a charm given by my mum, a bless one if you believe the monks", he clutched the piece a bit under his chin in a praying pose, "Might as well try doing miracles."

Then he started chanting a fairy from his childhood, wishing for guidance in his head.

'The H _unter held the herb in his mouth_

 _He dared not to chew nor swallow_

 _As only the disciplined shall find the sacred tree'_

A circle of divine light started glowing around him and Bach knew it was working.

' _So he searched and scoured_

 _For days and nights_

 _But atlas it was too late_

 _When he gazed upon his reflect in the river_

 _For it was naught a man but a tiger that stared back at him'_

With the last phrase, he raised the charm up to finish the cast. Immediately, glowing orange message appeared on the grass. Eric read them with incredulous eyes.

'GO FORWARD TO THE LEFT, IN THE 10 O'CLOCK DIRECTION'

"Guess that's the place to be", Bach was tying the charm around right wrist for easy access.

"Wait, how'd you do that?"

"I'll tell you on the way."

With that, they started a walking toward their destination.

* * *

A pair of cat Faunus dashed through the Grimm infested forest, twins they were. Alma, the one with brown shoulder length hair, green eyes and a pair of tong fas, took a glance behind hem and things were not looking as bad as it can get for them. She and her little sister, few minutes younger, had such rotten luck that managed to meet up right on top of a Deathstalker nest. And trying to lure it to a better place for a fight, a pack of Beowulf and Ursa appeared, forcing the two to flee. The only silver lining was her sister's semblance detecting the pack from far enough to avoid being surrounded. Now, they are just trying to outpace the Scorpion and beasts, which wasn't working so well. they needed backups.

"Liz!", She called out to her sister, "Is there any other students nearby?"

"I can feel two auras this way!", Her sister made a such a sharp right turn that her braid looked like it was going to fly off due to the momentum.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight", Eric took one last puff from his cigarette before it disappeared, "You can do these miracles, magic, pyromancy ON top of being immortal? That's OP."

"Well, I can still die and go insane", Bach was scratching his stomach to chase away the phantom pain and kicking a pebble around the open grass field

"You ere pretty much alive back there."

"I think I put at least 40 point in vigor so I guess that explain the durability", he cringed at the memories, "and Eric, I don't want ever to be reminded of that shit show again, EVER"

Before Eric could comment anything, a cry for help made them turned around. There they were, in Eric's wildest fantasies, two cat girls running toward them. One had shoulder length brown hair and was wearing blue jeans, black boots, and a brown tight leather jacket with partial armor covering her chest and right shoulder. The other had thick golden braid and was wearing a frilly white shirt, short shorts, and boots similar to the other. He could make out their faces as they rapidly approached, both had almost identical soft features, except girl with short hair had green eyes while the other was blue. Before he could fully observe his fantasy any longer, a hand smacked him right in the back of the head.

"DUDE", Bach face was pure panicked, "BUILD A WALL!"

"W-w-what", he annoyingly stammered to which his head was grabbed and pushed toward where Bach was pointing, further behind the girls, a huge pack of Grimm accompanied by a giant white scorpion. It's Eric turn to be scared.

* * *

Alma and Lisbet ran into an open field and saw two boys with their back unwittingly turned towards them and the Grimm.

"HEY!", Alma called out both to warn and ask for help.

They turned around and for a moment seemed intrigued by their appearance. Then one started looked further past them, turning pale, and smacked the other which also started panicking. Alma was thinking of the worst when she realized they had no weapons, then the taller one's arms shot out toward the Grimm. For a split second, nothing seemed to happened then distinct sounds of crashing could be heard from behind which made Alma and her sister looked around. They were amazed at a wall, spanning dozens of meters, which had appeared between them and the Grimm.

The two sisters arrived at where the boys stood, Lisbet tried to catch her breath while Alma spoke.

"Was that you guys doing?", to which the taller one nodded rapidly.

"Thank…*cough*…you", Her sister was still trying to catch her breath.

"Yeah, but it'll disappear in a few minutes", the shorter boy, who seemed to be having a bad case of cold sweat, chimed in.

"We should get away then", Lisbet said somewhat got her breathing even now.

Alma looked at her younger sister and started thinking. They would be moving across an opened filed for a while so the Grimm would be on their heels again in no time. Her sister limited aura was being drain faster from fuelling both her semblance and from the running. No, they could take the Grimm down or at least drive them back right here, right now, and beside Alma didn't like running away from a fight.

"No sis, we can take them", She turned to the taller boy, "Can you make the same wall again but with a human size gap?"

He nodded rapidly.

"Then on my signal, make one with the gap in front of me. Liz, cover me from back here and you…", she looked at the other boy who looked like he had seen a ghost recently, "…Just make sure the Grimm don't get too close to my sister."

As such, Alma moved toward the Grimm mob, stopping a few meters away, he ton fa locked it self to her forearm while ends facing away from her opened revealing two red dust crystals. Lisbet unhooked he curve blades, joined them together to form bow with energy strings running from the swords tip. Bach and Eric just stood there, one readying for a signal with a tense stance, the other, unconsciously starting scratch his stomach, where the old wounds were. Moments later, the wall dissipated and the Grimmed surge forward.

"Now!", Alma hollered and two set of wall materialized leaving only a gap in front of her.

She waited until the ursa and most of the beowulfs started funneling before raising her arms forward. From the red crystal, a torrents of flame surged forth, scorching almost all those who are caught to ashes. The few tough enough to survive, ran back into the pack, causing a traffic jam full of fur and fangs. Some Grimm tried jumping over the flame only to be pierced by dust formed arrows from Lisbet. Everything was going just as planned until the Deathstalker attacked.

* * *

While the two girls were mowing down the beasts like Rambo, Bach was straing at his feet, feeling the cold grip of fear. His feet were frozen in place, hair was standing on the back of his head, and he realized his left hand was clutching at the where his stomach was ripped open. The previous near death experience was traumatizing indeed.

Then, shriek from the burning Grimms caught his attention. Some were slumped, dead, others were trying to run away from flame and he could see clearly the ones who were shot out of the air helplessly. He was feeling ridiculous. He was scared by these? for fuck sake they couldn't even kill him in the first place. Bach grip the charm in his right hand as fear turned to anger and muttered.

"Fuck trauma, It's payback time."

* * *

Not content to wait for its brethren to get through or the wall to disappear, the Deathstalker crashed through the thin rock wall while crushing the rest of the beowulfs, its chitin proved too much for the flame to burn. This prompted Alma to transform her dual flamethrowers back into their melee form and jumped back, readying herself. The scorpion was alone now, but it was still going to be a tough fight for her, her sister, and their questionably unarmed companions.

But before her or the Grimm could make a move, thunder boomed through the air causing Alma to flinched and a chunk to be blown off from the Deathstalker. Within seconds, another boomed through the air and this time, Alma could see a yellow lighting bolt flew past hear and sheared off three of the monster legs on its left. She looked back and found the source of the lighting.

The boy, who was previously terrified, was now holding back a giant crackling bolt of orange lighting over his head. He swung forward and the bolt sailed through the air with a sonic boom, smashing into the dazed Deathstalker. The giant scorpion armor was easily pierced and the soft flesh underneath was shredded and burned at the same time. The Deathstalker collapsed within second after the hit and everyone was silent in awe, except one.

"Fuck! Yeah! How's that for a taste of your medicine biatch!", the Deathstalker slayer yelled at the dead scorpion, causing his friend and Lisbet to flinched at the outburst.

"That was quite impressive…", Alma approached the group, "Is that your semblance?"

"Well…", he hesitated a for moment, trying to find an appropriate answer, "Yeah, you could say that, I guess."

"Then it explained why both of you are unarmed", Alma stated, "My name's Alma Campbell, by the way, and this is my sister, Lisbet Campbell."

"Nice to meet you", Lisbet gave a slight wave.

"Bach Nguyen, and this is…", Bach gesture to his friend.

"Er-erm-Eric, my name's Eric Kim", Eric awkwardly extend his hand which Lisbet shook.

"Well, thanks again for the help", Alma smile, glancing back at the disintegrating Grimms, "Shall we go retrieve that artifact for the headmaster?"

"Sure", Bach answer. While Eric and Lisbet both nodded.

With that, they where on their way toward completing the initiation.


	5. Chapter 5: All Drain Must Clog

"They're actual real life cat-girls!", Eric's whisper almost turned into a scream from all the excitement.

"Thanks captain obvious, I didn't realize I was blind", Bach gave his best impression of Nick Cage's 'You don't say' face.

"You can't understand how wonderful it is to have seen actual cat girls", Eric gestured toward to the twins, Alma and Lisbet, in front of them, "They. Are. Magnificent."

"Well, what I can understand is that you can't hold a decent conversation with the opposite sex because, you said and I quote: they are intimidating, they are too pretty and, my favourite, they are so pretty it's intimidating", air quotes were provided along with the items.

"Shut up, Bach", the conversation went back to silent for a moment.

The four of them were walking through an open grass field toward some sort of stone ruins, whose function Eric and Bach were quite aware of. Conversations along the way were generally about where each of them was from. The twins were from a small village near Patch and previously studied at Signal. On the other hand, Bach just told the sister that they were from a small village called Waterloo, so insignificant that it's not on a map, and they were homeschooled. Lisbet took it as that, but Alma didn't seem to be convinced but she let it dropped for now.

As they came closer to the stone ruins, there was signs of previous battle along the way including scorch marks, ice shards and gigantic feathers impaled.

"A Nevermore was here", Alma, the older of the faunus twin, "Everyone be careful", held one hand up as a stop signal.

"I wouldn't worry about that", Bach, however, kept walking pass them, unconcerned by the warning.

"What do you mean?", Alma's ears twitched slightly at the disregard, "Greater Grimms are not something to be ignored."

"Chill, brah", Bach waved a hand to the side, "If everything is still the same, it's probably by that way, having its head chopped off right now", he pointed toward a trail of devastated trees leading into the wood.

Lisbet tapped on the sister shoulder, "Sis, I think he's right" to which Alma turned to her, "I can sense few Greater Grimms that way, but they seem to be dying."

"Are you sure?", Lisbet nodded. Alma relaxed her shoulder, "Ok, but we should still keep an eye out for signs of Grimm."

Alma walked up to Bach as they closed the distance to the ruins.

"How'd you know that? Some kind of Grimm radar?", she was curious on their companions' knowledge on the Grimm where about.

"What makes you think that?", Bach scoffed, "If I had something like that, Eric and I would have seen you and the Grimm from miles away."

"It's definitely not your semblance, I know that much."

"What makes you think my semblance is all about throwing lighting?", Bach was smirking.

"Wait… you mean your semblance also detect life like my sister?", Alma was surprised and intrigued by the prospect of a semblance that have multiple abilities.

"Nope", still smirking, "I can't."

Her eyes narrowed, "Then what?"

"Well…", Bach mouthed hung open for a second while he decided if he should take it further, "Let's just say I have good perception and memory on certain events", he decided not to and jogged towards the podiums under a broken stone arch, where Eric was standing.

Alma was quite annoyed with vague answers but he made it quite clear to drop the matter. Thus, she made her way to Lisbet, next to a couple of podiums, seemingly confused. The artifacts the headmaster alluded to were apparently chess pieces.

"Is this what we supposed to retrieve?", Lisbet asked as her sister approached.

"It seems so… I guess the Headmaster wouldn't want to risk actual artifact on a student initiation ceremony."

"So which one should we take?"

Alma looked over the pieces and scoop up the white queen in one motion, "This might mean something when we get back, might as well make it a good one."

A few feet away, Bach was tossing a chess piece up and catching it.

"A pawn?", Eric was raising an eyebrow, "I thought you'd choose something more special?"

"Oh but it is the most special of all", Bach was putting up a crappy British accent, "My dear Watson."

"How so?"

"It is the puppet that dance to the whim of the puppeteer, the canon fodder who marches for the king but", he raised he piece up, "The strings sometime break, fodders sometimes live for too long and then, they will dance to their own tunes and march to their own beat, even for a fleeting moment."

"Wow, that seems poetic." Lisbet said as the twin approached the pair from behind.

"I know, sometimes I'm so deep, Adele can roll in it."

Eric cringed and groaned internally while the sisters just looked confused by the reference, "Just ignored it, Bach is just being Bach."

"Well, that aside", Alma straighten herself up, "It seems we got everything we came for, let's head back before we get surrounded by Grimm."

Everyone agreed and the trip back was quite uneventful, the Grimm seemed to be attracted to some commotion in the direction of a cliff face.

* * *

Just as they expected, well at least for Eric and Bach, the four of them were each given a scroll and ceremoniously put into one team, team ABEL. At the moment, Ozpin, the headmaster was announcing their leader.

"…and for her decisive action and leadership, Alma Campbell, will be team ABEL leader from this point forward. I expect you to take this responsibility to the best of your ability." He droned, managing to sound bored and commanding at the same time.

Alma bowed her head slightly "As the team leader, I will strive for no less than excellence", she said in manner almost like this role was her from the start.

They could hear a jeer from the crowd, the racial tone toward their leader gave Eric and Bach a pretty good idea on who made it.

The blonde professor, Ms. Goodwitch, quickly silenced the noise then turned to the team "You may now retrieve your belongings and proceed to you assigned dormitory."

The newly formed team ABEL quickly made their way to the locker room. As they pulled their stuffs out of the lockers, the twins still seemed to be quite energetic while exhaustion started catching up to the boys due to the lack of Aura-provided stamina. They plopped themselves on a bench, feeling the burns from the earlier exercise.

"Are you guys okay?", Lisbet approached the two.

"Nah, we're cool, just gotta catch our breath for a bit", Bach answer tiredly then hit Eric shoulder with a light backhand, "Dude, could ya make a couple of steamed towel.

Eric gave reluctant nod then materialized one in his hand and another huge bundle, dropping right on top of Bach's head.

Lisbet's jaw almost dropped to the floor, "How did you do that!?"

"Er-rm errr…", Eric was startled at the dazzled faunus, "I can make stuff, like the wall and erm… It's my semblance."

"So you can create anything you wish? Not just the walls? That's so incredible", She tuned to her big sister, "Sis, I think we might have one of the best semblance in the academy on our team."

Alma was more calm than her sister, "But it only last for several minutes similar to the walls back in the wood, right?"

Eric nodded.

"But imagine what he can still create for just those minutes", Lisbet was obviously very excited.

"I know, if combine with your radar like semblance, we can pull off some incredible strategy", Alma was tapping her chin, contemplating the possibilities.

"Imagine the possibilities!", Bach chimed in, his voice slightly muffled by a towel on his face, "By the way, hot towel anyone?", one hand extended with the other towel.

Lisbet gingerly took one, deciding that it good to clean her face up a little bit after the eventful initiation. Alma, on the other hand, was curious about something else.

"Back in the wood, you said your semblance isn't all about throwing lighting…"

"Yep", Bach turned his head up to the team leader.

"Then what can it do?"

"Let see here: lighting, heal" Bach extended his finger as he listed the miracles, "Jedi push, the axe effect, an invulnerable save, youtube comments, silence of the lamb and… Oh! I haven't try this!", he balled his left hand into a fist in front of his face and closed his eyes in concentration.

The weird names got everybody confused and the sudden silence didn't help, so the rest of ABEL just looked at the guy expectantly. Fortunately, something did happen, with an "ah hah" sound, Bach open his palm to reveal a small flame hovering within it.

"Does that mean you can throw fireball?", Lisbet asked.

"Yep"

"Are you telling me you can do what ever ridiculous thing you just said _**and**_ throw fire around?" Alma was starting to think the guy was trolling them with some trick.

As answer, stream of flame, couple of meter long, surged upward from Bach's palm for a few second, eliciting an aw from Lisbet and a few impressed look from people in the room, including Eric.

"Multi-function semblance, incredible…", Alma admitted.

"You know what, I'll make a list of stuff I can do by the end of tomorrow", Bach extinguished the flame with a flick of his wrist, "And since we're on the topic of semblance, what's yours, Alma?"

"I…", her eyes went to the side, she looked a bit miffed by the question, "… don't have one."

"Really?", Bach and Eric said in unison.

"But you do have one, sis!" Lisbet quickly protested.

"It makes small balls of light, Liz… not much use in combat", the defeated answer gave her sister no argument and brought the mood down on the group.

Eric nodded in sympathy while Bach stood up, shrugged and started speaking.

"Aman once said ' _even the tiniest flame can shoulder the world_ ', or something like that, don't look it up. Besides, I don't think you even need a semblance", he waved slightly toward her to finish the pep talk.

"Thank you?", Alma was taken back a bit by both the encouragement and the unfamiliar quote. Then, with her confident somewhat restored, she swung her pack on her back and straightened herself, "It's been a long day, let's go see our room."

No one argued and they started filing out the locker room. Along the way, something dawned on Bach's mind. He pulled his friend to the side and said in a low voice.

"We're actually living with two other girls. Do you know what this mean?"

"That we still have no chance of getting laid?" Eric deadpanned.

"Oh, it should be a fact on Wikipedia but that's irrelevant. It means…", Bach's face was full of terror, "…the shower drain is going to be full of hair."


	6. Chapter 6: Inside Out

With a skip in her step, Lisbet Campbell strolled beside Alma and Eric through the halls toward her first class. To attend one of the most prestigious Huntsman Academy was quite exciting for her and she was sure her sister felt the same too. Well, her sister would be excited if there hadn't been a slight problem.

"Arrrghhh! Where is he?", Alma sounded frustrated, "How could he just skip the first class of the year?"

"At least he said that he'll be back by the second period…", Lisbet tried to keep her sister from exploding, then turned to Eric, "Do you have any idea why he'd do something like this? Since you're his friend and all?

"Uh- uhm I don't kn-…", Eric sighed, his shoulder slumped slightly, "Bach is just being Bach, but if he said he'll be 'bach' by second period", Eric raised the message on his scroll, "He'll turn up, I hope..."

"Hmph! He better be", Alma crossed her arm as they kept walking.

Bach had disappearance since morning but Lisbet didn't let it get to her. She was sure that the professor would have some very exciting tales and lesson that would lighten everyone mood, except for Bach who was going to miss it all.

* * *

Lisbet didn't think it was possible for tales of heroics to be so boring until professor Port started his lecture, or more accurately his very detailed personal history. The rest of the class seemed to share the same sentiment as she saw people nodding off left and right. Her sister was also occupying herself with the scroll on her lap.

"What are you doing sis?", she whispered.

"Trying to get this scroll locator thing to work so I can find out where Bach went."

"Come on, sis, he's going to show up after this period, at least Eric said so…"

"I'd prefer my teammate to not disappear to dust know where on the first day without telling anyone", Alma's ears were twitching on top of her head furiously, "Or at least know where he went."

Before Lisbet could find something to said that would calm down her sister, Eric chimed in.

"Alma", Eric flinched as ABEL leader gaze whipped toward him, "U-um… Aren't we supposed activate the tracker on his scroll first?"

"And we didn't since….", Alma buried her face in her palms, "…he wasn't even there this morning", a muffle groan can barely be heard by Lisbet.

Just at that moment, professor Port decided to liven up his lecture, asking for volunteer in a demonstration which a white hair girl, also dressed in all white clothing, answered. The change of pace got everybody attention, even Lisbet's grumbling sister. It involved live practice with a boar like Grimm that the professor had captured, an impressive feat in Lisbet's mind.

As the fight went underway, the girl, who was called Weiss by her teammates, was having a tough time subduing the grimm and became aggravated by the unexpected difficulty. Her teammate, who wore a crimson robe on her back, seemed to worsen the girl's mood as. In the end, Weiss pulled through as she stabbed the boar in the stomach after flipping it upside down with a parry and proceed to stormed out of the room.

After seeing the commotion, Lisbet had an idea that might help her sister clear up some of her frustration.

"Hey sis, how about you volunteer for another demonstration?"

Alma tapped her chin for a second, smile at her sister and shot up her hand, "Professor, is there a chance for another?"

"Ho, Ho! It seems we have a lot of eager Huntresses in training today", the professor took a glance at the clock with his squinted eye, "Since we don't have much time left, how about a challenge? If you can defeat the Ursa in 30 seconds, your team get a free pass in the next quiz, if not, I get 4 new assistants to sort out my lecture's notes. What do you say, Miss Campbell?"

"With all due respect, professor, I'd say it's too easy", Alma walked down toward the front of the class, hands already gripping her pair of tong fa.

Lisbet could hear the smugness in the answer and knew her sister was already feeling better.

"Isn't 30 seconds a bit too much?", Eric asked nervously.

"I assured you", Lisbet still beaming at her sister, who was standing a few meters across a new locked cage, "I know my sister and she's good."

The lock was smashed and the signal was given. The Ursa burst forth from the cage charging straight ahead toward its challenger. Alma answer the charge immediately with one of her own. As the distance between them disappeared, the beast took a massive swipe with its arm. The young Huntress immediately rolled under the attack and through the beast's stocky legs. Before the thing realized she was behind its back, Alma activated the red dust crystal in her left tong fa, creating a fiery explosion that threw her back toward the grimm, spinning counter-clockwise. Using the spin's momentum, she slammed the short end of her right handed tong fa into a soft gap along the beast's spine. The Ursa howled in pain and tried to reach back with its claws but it was too late. The dust crystal ignited and beast fell as it was incinerated from the inside out.

"Ho, ho, ho! 17 seconds, impressive young miss", professor Port clapped then turned to the class, "I guess team ABEL will have a free quiz and the rest of you, will need to hurry to your next class."

Lisbet was glad that her sister mood had lighten up a bit from the little fight from professor Port class. All that left is for Bach to show up, which he didn't for the whole trip from the lecture hall to the locker. She was also starting to worry about him skipping class, professor Port might be forgiving but Ms. Goodwitch didn't seem like the lenient type. She decided to not fret over it too much.

"Hey Eric", she called to her teammate who was fidgeting around in front of his locker, "You don't have any armor or weapon?"

"I guess I could just materialize them when needed…"

"Didn't you said it'll disappear after minutes? Wouldn't it be dangerous when they're gone?"

"I uh… good point."

"You know what?", Lisbet looked into her locker, pulled out a short curved blade and put it in Eric hand, "You can have this one."

"Don't you need it?", Eric stared at the weapon for a second.

"It's a spare my sister scrounged together in case one of the Twin Fangs breaks", She gesture toward the pair of long curve blades on her hip, "And they haven't for a long time. It'll be better with you than collecting dust in a locker", she flashed Eric a smile.

"T-thank y-"

"I don't know what's more pathetic, a Faunus or a wimp accepting help from a Faunus!", came a booming voice from behind them.

It was a large boy with light brown hair, his chest plate displays a prominent golden bird spreading its wings. Lisbet recognized Cardin right away, his reputation for strength is match only by his racist attitude back in Signal. She was scared stiff by the boy's towering stature and Eric seemed to be in the same boat.

"What? Cat got your tongues?", Cardin laughed at the joke, joined by the posse called his team.

"Leave them alone Cardin!", Alma pushed her self between CRDL and the rest of her team.

"Oh? If it isn't the 17 seconds girl?", he leaned down toward the angry Faunus, "I bet I can take you down in half that time", he was smirking.

Alma opened her mouth to retort but-

"MOVE BITCH! OR I'LL PUT A FOOT UP YER ARSE!", came a very familiar voice from behind CRDL.

Cardin whipped his head around, looking bewildered at the source, "Who the hell are you?"

"The B in ABEL, ass-hat. Now move bitch!", Bach, despite the confident in his voice, wasn't looking his best. Lisbet could see the dark circles under his eyes from where she stood.

"No one talks to me like that!", Cardin hissed.

"Oh! You got beef, eh?", Bach looked the bully straight in the eye then jerked a thumb toward the door leading to the auditorium, "How about we get this sort out in the stadium?"

A smile crept across Cardin face, "I'm going to make you eat your own word, midget."

"Whatever float yer boats, mate" Bach chuckled as CRDL made their way toward the stadium.

When Bach turned back, Alma was standing there with her arms crossed, she didn't look amused.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Setting up a practice match fer meself?", Bach smiled lazily.

"And you think you can just go up against Cardin?"

"Who knows. Eric hold on to this fer me, mate", he tossed to the backpack he was holding toward Eric, "Guess I'll find out if I can."

Alma was rendered speechless by the attitude as Bach was getting ready. He took out a pair of large stone gauntlet that seemed too big for his pocket. After clumsily fastening the gauntlet, a massive steel sword was pulled from within his pocket and rested on his right shoulder.

"Let's see if the Zweihander lives up to its name", he walked out of the locker room, swaying slightly on the way.

"Let's just get going", Alma just sighed and moved toward the door.

Lisbet was not sure what she just saw, "Eric, Does he do this often?"

"Unfortunately… I think so", Eric sighed and they moved on.

* * *

From the bleacher, the rest of team ABEL could see Bach stumbling on to the center platform, Cardin was getting ready from across the stage.

"The first practice duel will be between Cardin Winchester and Bach Nguyen…", Ms. Goodwitch began going over the rules.

"Hey guys", Eric said sheepishly as he showed Lisbet and Alma what was inside Bach's backpack, "I think I know what's going on with Bach."

"I can't believe it", Alma said as the twins was bewildered.

Besides the stench of alcohol, there was two bottles inside, one empty and the other almost in the same state.


	7. Chapter 7: One Pump Chump

Cardin swung his mace, Bach rolled under the attack and so does his brain inside his skull. This had been repeating for the pass minute on the circular platform, where the bigger man swung and the smaller man dodged. Gradually, Cardin wasn't the only frustrated by lack of return blows, especially when both participants were holding massive weapons.

"Fight like a man you coward!", the leader of team CRDL was exasperated.

"Ey! IT's not nice to call people names, ya know?", Bach just shrugged his shoulder after coming up from another roll, further aggravating his opponent.

To his defense, the wordless echoes in his brain did pressure him to do more than just roll-dodging. In facts, they told him to do many things: swing his sword at Cardin's leg, to use his pyromancy, to take advantage of the sword's reach or to at least do a counter-lunge after each roll. But, the spirit might be willing, the body, however, was intoxicated and disoriented from a mixture scotch and rum.

Unfortunately, after a couple of more swings from Cardin, Bach was forced to stop rolling for a second. Whatever in his stomach was trying to get back out and it wouldn't be nice for that to happened in mid-match.

"Uhmgh… that was close", he pushed down the vomit only to see a mace head hurling toward him in an upward swing, "Sh-"

The massive weapon smashed into his stomach, sending him airborn then stumbling across the stadium. As he got back up to one knee, Bach wondered why he did this in the first place…

* * *

It was past midnight and Bach just woke from one vivid dream. In it, he was soldier, a great sword in one hand and a short knife in another, fighting amongst a crowd of similarly dressed soldier in a stone mausoleum. It was a massive free for all, steel clashed, flesh torn, heads flew and the blood flow like a river, his or theirs, he couldn't tell. At the end, the sword became too heavy and he fell, ran through the stomach by the last of the soldiers.

Bach's left hand unconsciously went to were he was stabbed in the dream. It was vivid indeed but it wasn't the only one. In fact, he had woken up from five other dreams that night. In one, he was sitting on the charred throne of a once prosperous capital, in another, he was a priest praying with a pair of massive sword in hand. However, the first was the most memorable. He was a beast, tearing a boy apart with his bone-white fangs; the beast was a grimm and the victim was him.

Bach realized two things at that moment: First, sleep was highly unlikely at this point and second, the dreams were memories from the souls of those he had slain, be it in the game or during the initiation earlier that day. And throughout the night, even when awake, more flashed of these memories were appearing in his head, making him quite annoyed to say the least. Thus, instead of trying to get the rest that would never come, he decided to use this time to take a look at the situation so far, but not here. He took his backpack along with his scroll and sneak out of the dorm, taking care not to wake up Eric of the twins.

About 30 minutes later, he found his way to the one of the academy garden and settled down on one of the benches.

"Security seems to be nonexistence around these parts…", He muttered under his breath while going through his backpack.

With all the clothes gone, shoved into the closet before he had gone to bed, he could actually examine what was put in his backpack by the supposedly Goddess of Love. He chuckled at the thought. He found a pair of familiar white and orange crystal along with a charred piece of steel, which recognized as the coiled sword fragment from its twisted shape. The last items, however, were the best: a bottle of Blue Label scotch and another bottle of spiced rum, Sailor Jerry's to be exact.

"This Goddess knows her shit, that's for sure", he shoved to fragment into his storage box, clipped the crystals to a key ring conveniently on backpack then put the bottles back in, "I'll take care of these later."

Bach decided that it was more productive to get a grip on what had happened by first writing the stats of his Dark Souls character, or more accurately, himself. He pulled out his scroll and started typing down what he remembered.

"27 vigor, 20 vit, end and attunement… those are the basics", he kept on rambling to himself as he typed.

By the end of it, the doc read something along the line:

 _Vig: 27_

 _Vit &end&att: 20_

 _Int: 16_

 _Dex: 16_

 _Strength: 40_

 _Faith: 60_

 _Luck: 10_

… and a list describing all his miracles and pyrmancy.

Bach was puzzled by how he survived getting his torso ripped apart by the grimm with just 27 in Vigor but then again, his character did survive a man-size electric spear through the midsection, courtesy of the Nameless King. He also wondered how the miracles had worked so well earlier that day since he didn't really believe in his family ancestral worshiping. After a bit of thinking, he deduced that faith also work when you believe in science and observed facts, or a person confidence in any subject.

After figuring out the stats, he then checked to his storage box and found it to be quite satisfying. All the weapons, rings, consumables and armors seemed to be in there, even the nigh-impossible-to-farm Darkmoon Ring was present. Bach made a note to himself to go full Havel the Rock on someone's ass at least once before this whole trip in Remnant ends.

After finding out that at least he himself was quite blessed by this Goddess of Love, which he put Fina on top of the suspect list, Bach was left with nothing to do. He eyed the bottles in his backpack and convinced himself that if he got drunk enough, it might stop the nightmares from waking him up. So he set alarm on his scroll, deliberately skipping Port's lecture, if the show made it clear that he'd just going to sleep through it anyway. He then pulled out the scotch, unscrewed it and raised the bottle toward what's left of Remnant's moon.

"To a shattered moon", he cheered then started chugging.

Several hours later, his guts were doing trapezes, his brain was break dancing and his eyes were going through one hell of a tunnel. Worse of all, he couldn't even fall asleep anymore. The flashes of memories faded away as he drank but in its stead were voiceless and wordless echoes. They filled his head with sorrow, joy, hope, despair and many other emotions from long dead people. But the strongest of all was the anger and frustration, demanding to be released in the closest mean possible, pressuring him to to fight someone or something. Just as Bach was about to smashed an unlucky plant pot, the alarmed rang. He looked at his scroll and smiled.

"Ah, rite, Goodwitch's combat class, Just what the doctor order."

* * *

The flash back was interrupted by Cardin's howling as he charged forward with an overhead swing. Bach wondered why the fight hadn't stopped and got his answer from the auditorium screen, his aura bar had barely moved.

"That's srstrange…", he slurred before the mace came down.

The clash of steel echoed across the hall and the audience was left on the edge of their seat. Cardin's mace was stopped dead in its track. He tried to pushed down with all his might but Bach's sword, held horizontally like a staff, didn't move an inch. In fact, he was being pushed back by the smaller opponent.

"Guess 40 strength ain't shit, eh, Cardin?", Bach was grinning, the echoes in his head have started to fade, somewhat pleased by his decision to fight.

"What the hell does that suppose to mean", Cardin grunted, unable to comprehend that someone is pushing him back through sheer strength alone.

"It means, buddy, that…", the amulet on Bach's wrist started glowing, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

His voice Boomed and Cardin was launched to the other side of the platform by an unseen explosion of force.

"And let the sun shine upon this lord of cinder!", the amulet worked it miracles again and this time, crackling stream of lighting burst forth, enveloping the Zweihander.

Before his opponent was fully on his feet, Bach charged forward with a wide upward swing from his left. Cardin eyes widened at the coming blade and timed slowed down for a split second. He could see all he opening in the attack but there was nothing he could do in time, except raising the mace to block the attack. The electrify blade made contact and kept going. Metal screeched as the steel haft was shredded to pieces and Cardin's aura broke the moment his chest was hit. Fortunately, Bach clumsy swing meant that the Zweihander's edge made contact at a shallow angle, throwing Cardin off the platform instead of cutting any further.

After regaining his balance, Bach stood at the platform edge for a moment, staring at the boy clutching his right side and Goodwitch next to him.

"C'mon It can't be that bad!", he said.

The professor moved the injured student armed down to heal him with her aura, revealing a shattered chest plate from the right side.

"Get him to the infirmary, there's broken and fractured ribs", She quickly called out to the rest of CRDL, "And you, Mr. Nguyen…", She turned to the guilty party, lookign very un-amused.

"I swear I didn't know it'll hit that hard", he quickly raised his hands in surrender, dropping the Zweihander in the process, "Besides how am I suppose t-"

"JUST!", the professor held her temper, barely, "Go back to your seat and restraint yourself from now on."

"Okay, will do", Bach picked up his sword and scurried off toward his team on the bleacher.

Glynda Goodwitch pinched her nose bridge slightly out of annoyance, it seemed team RWBY won't be the only handful this year.

* * *

An hour later, Team ABEL were gathered at one the cafeteria wooden table. Eric and Lisbet were enjoying their lunch across from each other while Alma, the team leader, was too busy staring dagger at Bach to touch her tray. The guy was happily snoring away next to Eric, completely oblivious to the fact that his team had to dragged him all the way here after he passed out during the rest of the combat class.

"Come on, sis, staring won't wake him up", Lisbet was joyfully working on a piece of chicken, "Just eat your lunch."

"Liz, you don't understand", still staring, "He can't just disappear, skip classes, get drunk, pick a fight and get away with it."

"Well, you could consider having his lunch forfeit a punishment."

"I don't think he'll be able to eat anything for the rest of the day", Eric chimed in, glancing at his friend.

"Also, Cardin wasn't exactly a nice guy either, sis."

"Fine! Liz", Alma relented and picked up her fork, "But we still don't know what he was up to most of the morning."

"I think he'll have a good explanation for that and besides," Liz pointed at a scroll lying on the table, "He did give you the list he promised."

"Yes, and it's quite the list..."

"What happened to the Cardin Crusher?", said a blonde girl as she approached Eric from behind with her tray.

"The Cardin Crusher?", Eric turned around.

"Yeah, that's what everyone is calling him after he sent that douche to the nurse", the girl and her team settled down next to Alma, "The name's Yang by the way, that's our leader Ruby, and that's Weiss and Blake."

"Yeah and his sword was so awesome when it lights up and lighting and everything", Ruby recounted the fight exciting as she sat down.

"I'm Alma and that's Eric, my sister Liz, and the sleeping beauty here is Bach", she shook Yang hand, "And please don't encourage him to get drunk and get into fight any further."

"Wait, he got alcohol past the security?", Yang eyes lit up, "How?"

"Oh boy", the rest of RWBY groaned simultaneously.

"I think only he knows how", Eric shrugged sheepishly.

"Darn it, tell him to talk to me next time he wakes up", Yang snapped her finger.

Then the group kept on fraternizing, and eventually team JNPR joined in with their friends from RWBY. Eric found this breach of canon slightly off putting but decided to ignore it as he has found a fellowship of bad with girls in the vomit boy, Jaune Arc. And Bach, albeit with a hangover, managed to somehow wake just in time for afternoon classes.


	8. Chapter 8: Overtime, Underpaid

Lisbet was dashing amongst the red petals of the Emerald forest, her goal was near in sight. A bundle of twisting golden light amongst the tree alerted the Faunus and she darted to the right, narrowly avoiding a stone spike that've just materialized. Stone wall rapidly rose along her left, intending to separate the girl and her target, and they were outpacing her speed. Gathering the momentum, she leaped up to the air, her aura-enhance legged carried her over the wall only to be met by a plethora spike shooting up from below. _He was waiting for me to make the jump,_ she smiled at the thought.

Her body twisted and the spikes harmlessly stabbed the air. She quickly stabbed one of the Twin Fangs curved blade to the stone and anchored herself to one of the spike. Her eyes could see the target from up there, zig-zagging through between the trees. He was moving quickly enough to prevent an arrow shot, but still visible and unfortunately, so was the trip-wire left behind. _A bait amongst the trees, how sly of you,_ she a swift kickback, Lisbet launched herself forward above the treeline and let the sea of red leaves obscured both her and the target. Where her sight would fail, her semblance would do the job and all colours drained from the world except the faint golden aura visible even through the trees.

The Twin Fangs joined together at the hilts, the energy strings between the blades' tip sparked to life and she notched her arrow. Her breath stopped for a split second and the purple dust arrow sailed through the air, down toward its mark. She fell back down to the forest, one of her blade scraped against a tree trunk to slow down the descent.

"OWWWWWWW", Eric voiced his discomfort in the distant, confirming that her aim was true.

"Tag!", she hollered as she approached the unlucky practice partner.

By the time, she got there, Eric was rubbing his leg where it was struck with one hand and holding his side with the other.

"Can…we call… it for today?", he wheezed, "My sides…ugh…are burning…"

"Yeah, good idea", she giggled, "I also want to take a shower before dinner", she motioned toward an Academy entrance at the edge of Emerald forest.

"You lasted 5 minutes longer than last time", She commented as they walked, "You've gotten better."

"Thanks", Eric was still rubbing the sore leg spot, "But there's a 'but'…"

"The bait was a tad obvious BUT, the spike on the other of the wall were good placement", she tried to give some positive in her criticism.

"You mean it?"

"Yeah, you just have to conceal your traps better or make the spikes denser and I just might get hit for once."

"But wouldn't you get hurt?", he gave her a dubious look.

"You silly goose", She couldn't stifle the giggle, "I activated your aura, remember? I'm sure I can take care of myself", she winked.

"Oh…right…", Eric scratch his head as they kept walking.

It was Saturday and it has been a few weeks since the first day and two problems became apparent very early on: 1) neither Eric or Bach could swing a sword or anything properly, 2) their aura was still dormant, despite the semblance. Bach actually informed the team about this as soon as he sobered up.

The latter problem was easily fixed for Eric but when it came to Bach, any attempt only ended up depleting the aura of the person doing the unlocking. They gave up on the fifth try.

For the former problem, Lisbet thought that the two can make up for this problem with their semblance. Her sister, however, wasn't quite optimistic; in fact, she was quite vexed by that fact. Thus, a training regiment was implemented on the team ABEL which dictated that they would spend the weekend training. Lisbet would coach Eric in improving his mobility, battlefield awareness and utilizing his semblance. On the other hand, Bach had to spend the weekends sparring with Alma, or to be more accurate, get his ass handed to him.

"Maybe we should stop by the gym", Lisbet said as they stepped into the Academy back yard, "Can't have them missed dinner."

"Good idea", Eric felt a grinned crept up his face, "Seeing Bach get his ass kicked never gets old."

"You two sure are the best of friends", She chuckled.

* * *

"STOP RUNNING", Alma was frustrated as Bach dove and roll all the way to the edge of the practice ring.

"Well I guess I'll just have to throw my sense of self-preservation out window then", he retorted, "And besides, retreat is a valid tactic in any fight."

"Not if you didn't even try to swing your sword once!", this is making her ears twitch, "Did you even read any of the combat manuals we took from the library?"

"Of course, these nothing else to do when I'm locked in a room while everybody is asleep", he swung his left hand upward in equal frustration, "But I don't think there's a chance for practice or experimenting when you're just pummeling my arse!"

"We're in the Academy now, you guys are supposed to know the basics already, not starting out with dummies."

"Then why won't you just let me do practice at night instead of locking me in the room?"

"I'm not risking you getting drunk and disappearing, we can't have you skipping class when we're a team."

After the drunken antics with Cardin, Bach realized that insomnia, caused by soul-memories-induced nightmares, are part of the reasons why undead goes hollow. He managed to sleep through the dreams sometimes but most of the time, it's restless night and coffee mugs in the morning. He could, however, still busy himself with reading Huntsmen combat manuals or drink his unlimited supply of alcohol in the small bottomless box, courtesy of the unseen Goddess of Love.

"Besides", Alma tilted her head a bit, still looking exasperated, "How are you able to buy alcohol anyway? How old are you?"

"19, pretty sure that's the legal age for buying booze, rite?"

"Wait, you're that old?", Alma blinked, "And you're first year?"

"I got held back", he shrugged.

"I can see why", she mumbled then asked again, "And how do you keep pulling out alcohol from your pocket anyway?"

"That'd to a be a story for another day", Bach pointed at her with his empty hand.

Alma's ears twitched and she lowered her stance, "Well, we wasted enough time", she dashed toward him, the Red Guards in her hands poised to strike.

"God da-"

Bach dove to the side, narrowly avoiding one of the tong fa, but Alma was on his heels now. She kept closed to him using the momentum to throw flurries of punches and kicks which he desperately tried to block and evade. A kick caught him at the end of a roll and was followed up by a hit from the side with her tong fa. He managed to keep it away from his noggin by letting his left forearm take the brunt. His subsequence attempt to put some distance between them was thwarted by Alma quick feet.

"It's only one sided if you don't fight back!", she dashed straight toward him.

"Bloody 'ell!", Bach twisted his blade around, imitating parts of the combat manuals, into a horizontal swing.

His target dropped low and delivered a roundhouse kick up his mid-section, laying him flat on his back a few meters away.

'Owww…"

"Come on, I didn't hit that hard"

"…", Bach, still sprawled out like a starfish, patted his left side, "…thaaaaaat's another broken rib."

"Oh… just use you estus bottle thing."

"Drank it all after the 14th time I got something broken today…", Bach eyes thin into a line.

"Well, Eric could fix you up later or… how about that healing miracles thing you have."

"You know, I'm starting to regret telling you about all of the healings we have", he clutched the metallic charm on his wrist.

 _Silently the woodcutter watched_

 _The tiger took her cub back to her den_

 _From the bushed, she took the leaves_

 _And by the leaves her boy was brought back to life_

 _And by the branch he took_

 _The woodcutter planted the bayan tree of life._

Magic circle briefly encircle his body and he was back on his feet and dragging them back to the ring center and not looking forward to the next round.

"Stop being dramatic", Alma readied her stance, "Everybody saw you took Cardin's mace and got right up."

"I was drunk", Bach readied his, "And we found out I got more torso-related injuries than the guy I sent to the infirmary, remember?"

Alma shot forward and Bach braced himself.

"Hey sis!", Lisbet called out as she and Eric walk into the gym, "It's almost dinner time!"

The tong fa was inches away from his Zweihander's crossguard.

"Guess, we're done for today?", there was a pleading smile on Bach's face.

"Fine, we'll see you at the dinning hall", Alma clipped the Red Guards on her hips and walked to her sister, "So, Liz, how did it go?"

"Well, he got better with planning and movement but…" The twins voice faded away as they walked toward the dorm room.

Bach walked toward Eric, who has already made his way toward the locker. Team ABEL agreed that the guys would use the locker room bath after training to avoid waiting through the girls' lengthy shower time.

"Glad that's it over?", Eric was grinning as he asked.

"Oh by the graces of Buddha sagging tits, yes...", Bach stretched his back, "It's like my parents trying to teach me the mutiplication table all over again."

"I don't think math involves domestic violence, Bach."

"Then you haven't experience the full East Asia Cultural Experience, mate."

"Not sure I want to", Eric raised an eyebrow.

"You don't", Bach shrugged, "So how's training with the cheerful cat girl?"

"I'm actually getting the hang of using this ability and aura armor is a god sent."

"Noice", Bach nodded as they stepped into the locker room, "She's your waifu yet?"

"Oh god yes", there was no hesitation.

Bach didn't even try to stifled the laugh, "You and your cat girls…"

"Oh shut up! You don't understand their wonders. Besides, you're the one getting whipped by a cat girl."

"Meh, she meant well", shrugged.

"Wait…", Eric looked at his friend, a bit stunned, "You think so?"

"I'm an arsehole, not a retard, Eric", he took his shampoo to the shower stall, "If she didn't truly want to help us, she'd have left us to figure it out on our own instead of wasting her weekends on a couple of dumbass."

* * *

"You don't have to be so hard on them, sis, they're still doing pretty well during team practice…", inside team ABEL room Lisbet was almost done combing her hair.

"Yes, I know Liz, but they can't rely on me telling what to do all the time", her sister was leaning on the doorframe leading to the hall, "We're supposed to be huntsmen and huntress in training, not kindergartners."

"And Eric getting better at it, we've even come up with this tactic where he makes trap and I shoot whatever is caught in it."

"And I already saw it working in our last team duel."

"See, he's getting better.", Liz put the comb down and started walking with her sister toward the dinning hall.

"You got the easier pupil to work with, Liz. Bach's barely made any sort of progress for the past three weeks. He didn't even try."

"I guess…but you could take it a little bit easier on Bach, sis…", Liz's index fingers were tapping against each other.

"What do you mean?", Alma was a bit shocked.

"Well… I watched your practice with Bach and…I don't think he can learn anything from getting beat up and he doesn't have any aura to shield himself too."

"Looks, Liz, we can't waste too much time on the basics, he'll have to learn on the fly and besides, he'll be fine, I saw him fixed a broken arm in seconds."

"Sis, I don't think practice should involve as much injuries as he was having."

"Having trouble teaching your teammate?", Nora chimed in as the twins ran into team JNPR.

"You have no idea", Alma sighed.

"Actually everybody in the Academy has an idea of it by now", Ren stated, matter-of-factly, "We can hear Bach's screaming and your yelling from way outside the gym."

"Maybe you should take it easy on the guy, take him through the basic and such", Pyrrha was trying to sound moderately.

"Come on guys, don't gang up on me like that. The guy is in Beacon Academy, one of the best, he should at least know the basics by now", Alma statement made Jaune looked a bit uneasy for a moment.

"Maybe you could take them out on a patrol mission, pummeling grimms is always an awesome way to practice", Nora cheerfully throw some punch to illustrated her point.

"Just ignore her", Ren was trying o suppress the pink ball of excitement.

"No…", Alma put her hand to her chin, contemplating the idea, "…that could work."

"Really?", everybody said in unison.

"You think so, sis?"

"Some live experience might help them develop faster", Alma took a detour toward the job board with a skip in her step.


	9. Chapter 9: Not-so-Midlife Crisis

"The delay will be longer but yeah, I can make a giant Flakk 88."

"Ayr shee", Bach was working on a particular tough chunk of meat, "Loaded and ready to fire?"

"I made a working, shooting gun once, you saw it", Eric reply.

"I remember, so does the complexity of the object affect the delay or just the size?", he took a bite out of the bread.

"It actually takes a loooot longer if I made something that's complex and unfamiliar to me."

"Then why don't you just summons bullets already in motion?", a spoon was pointed at Eric to emphasise the point, "Cut out the middle man and make stuff faster, hell, make a rocket while yer at that."

"Huh, you're actually making sense", Eric was imagining the possibility, "I'm going to tell Lisbet about this tomorrow and try them out."

"Speaking of the devil", Bach gesture toward the dinning hall entrance, "They're finally done with shower, and clogging up the drain with hair again", he mumbled the last part about the hair.

After making sure their team know where they're sitting, Eric turned back to the pilock, "Just making the projectiles is faster but wouldn't there be problem with friendly fire? Since our own teammates might not get out in time."

"You're looking right at the answer buddy", a Bach tapped a finger at his chest, "I can't die so friendly fire is moot anyway."

"I thought you don't want a repeat of the initiation?"

"I. DON'T", his voice sounded very serious for a second, "But someone gotta take one for the team."

"Well, at least I'll enjoy the spectacle", Eric chuckled.

"Fucker", Bach let out a laugh then turned to the twins and team JNPR who was sitting down beside them, "Hey guys."

Some said returned the greeting and others gave a curt nod as they settled into the table. The table soon became lively with conversation and the sound of food being consumed.

"Hey, Liz", Eric said, "I think I got a new trick to try out tomorrow."

"Er… Eric, we won't be having practice tomorrow", she replied

"What do you mean?", he blinked.

"We'll be going on a patrol mission tomorrow in Emerald Forest", Alma spoke up, with a bit of a harsh tone.

"U wot mate?", Bach's head whipped around from a conversation with Ren.

"I thought you said missions were to dangerous for novices", Eric was feeling a bit surprised by their leader.

"Yeah, what he said", Bach chimed in, also feeling incredulous.

Alma help up a hand, silencing her team, "Relax, patrol missions are relatively safe since all the team have to do is follow the perimeter fence in Emerald Forest, report anything strange and retreat immediately if there's an impending grimm attack.

I intend to have Bach and Eric fight the stragglers who wonder too far from the horde and too close to the fence. You guys can only use the gear they usually use in practice though. I think that some real life experience is good for your development."

"Are you seriously setting up a fight club for us and the grimm", Bach raised his brow.

"Yes."

"Um… I-I don't… think we'll be able to fight a grimm on our own", Eric wasn't liking this at all, not after seeing what happened to Bach during the initiation.

"Yeah, sis, it might be a too dangerous for them to just fight a grimm like that."

"Liz, I though this through, you and I will just have to keep a close watch. If anything happens we'll intervene."

"Yeah that's all well and good for Eric but I don't have an aura protecting me arse, mate", Bach didn't look very amused.

"You'll survive, Bach", Bach's jaw was agape for a moment after Alma curt answer

"Well shieeet", Bach gave a toothy and angry smile, "It'll go mentally prepare myself then", he got up and start walking away with his tray, "Call me tomorrow when it's time to go."

"Ummm… Alma…", Eric was sounding nervous both at talking to Alma, who he found intimidating, and the prospect of fight grimm tomorrow, "He might go drinking again."

Alma took a glance at Bach, who was half-way out of the dinning hall, then with a humph, she turned back to her tray, "He's just gonna sulk in our room."

* * *

"I can't believe he did it again!", Alma was furious.

When they came back to their dorm room, Bach was no where to be seen and his scroll was on his desk with a message: _I'll be bach at 6 tomorrow morning, probably wasted._

Alma couldn't believe the audacity he had. She's been frustrated with his refusal to take training seriously and lack of effort but this took the cake. Not only was he going to be drunk tomorrow, but he was going to be drunk on their team's first mission, which Alma had to chased down another team leader and practically begged for a switch so they could take a safer patrol route.

"That's it, if he doesn't want to graduate then, so be it", the ears on top of her head was fuming as she turned to Liz and Eric, "We'll just leave him here tomorrow."

"Sis, you know we can't do that", her sister spoke softly, attempt to cool down Alma's temper, "I think he's just really upset about."

"So he can just make the rest of the team fail our first mission of the year by being intoxicated", she threw her arm up.

"Well, I think most people would if they're put into danger, not know how to fight properly."

"Guys…"

"I know that, Liz", Alma pinched her nose bridge, "And I've tried, sis, I've tried to be patience but it just wouldn't work. Eric actually listened to you and learn but this guy just makes up excuses and goof off during practice. I had get him to improve somehow."

"Guys…"

"Maybe if you ease up a bit on the beating, he might have a chance to learn something", Liz voice was starting to rise.

"I've told you many times, We're past the point of learning bas-

"GUYS!", Eric voice finally went above the argument and left the sister looking incredulous, "I-I don't think he's upset… It's more like he's afraid."

"Afraid?", twins were intrigued.

"Um, so, I've been his friend for a few years and you see, he only drink alone when he's extremely stressed, he would always try to get at least one drinking buddy which was usually me…", Eric cringed at the memories of bad hangover.

"So why is he doing it now?", Alma asked.

"Well, I think it was the initiation, I think it spooked him…", Eric started going over what happened during the first day. He avoided describing the gory detail though, since he didn't want to be reminded of the gory sight. By the end of it, Alma and Lisbet were quite perplexed by the tale.

"And you're telling this is true?", Eric nodded at Alma question, "That he got mauled by several grimm and lived?"

He nodded.

"He did walk off from a hit from Cardin mace, and it was an explosive mace…"

Alma thought back to the afternoon after the duel, when he had been going to classes not knowing about the shattered ribcage. Later on, he had shown off the estus flask and other healing ability to avoid going to the nurse.

While Alma contemplate on the matter, Liz spoke up to Eric, "But right now, he is afraid of a repeating what had happened?"

Eric quickly nodded, "He made it quite clear that he didn't want to talk about it and sounded pretty upset when the matter is brought up too…"

"So he's trying to put off going on missions…"

Silent fell between the three for a moment as the realization dawned on them. Alma looked out the window, it's been raining for the past few hours.

"He's still somewhere in the academy building, Liz", her sister turned around looking expectantly, "Could you find him with your semblance? I'll talk to him."

Lisbet nodded then let her aura spread out at maximum distance. After a bit of differentiating, she marked a few spot on Alma's Scroll GPS.

"I'll be back", then Alma took off.

Awkward silent set in once again as Eric shifted around on his chair uncomfortably while Liz stood there, trying to find something to do while they waited. The Faunus girl decided lie on her bed and starting browsing the Remnant version of the web on her scroll, hoping to find something to help pass the time.

"I'm sorry…", Eric spoke up after a while.

"Why are you apologizing?", she looked at him, a bit surprised.

"For...you know…messing things up for you and Alma…", his eyes wandered to he ground as he shifted slight on the chair, "…with being us-"

"Stop", she interrupted and took a stride toward him, "Why are you saying that you're useless?"

He flinched, "C-cause…you know… we can't…don't even know the basics to-"

"Look at me, Eric", Liz's hands held Eric head by the sides, forcing him to looked at her. Her piercing blue eyes took the word out of him.

"What you can or can't do right now doesn't define you for the rest of your life", She looked both angry and sympathetic at the same time, "If that were the case, we wouldn't try to coach you in the first place."

"But I just don't know if I can improve fast enough", he spoke sheepishly.

"Eric, You can do it and I believe so", she took his hand in her own, "You just have to try. Can you do it?"

He couldn't find a word to respond to the faith and kindness, so a nod was the only thing he could mustered.

"Promise me, Eric."

"I p-promise."

She flashed a grin and giggle before sitting down on the bed near Eric. A movie was put on so they can past the time while the other two sort out the problem.

From that moment onward, Eric had elevated her from waifu to his goddess.

* * *

Alma was standing outside the door of an utility closet; it's the 4th spot that Lisbet had marked on the GPS for her to find Bach. She was considering skipping this on at first since it was behind Ms. Goodwitch but she needed to be thorough.

"He wouldn't…", she muttered to no one in particular and open the door.

She froze at the sight of a bottle being raised by Bach, who in turn froze from the sight of Alma.

"WHAT ARE YO-"

"SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH", Bach frantically put an index finger to her mouth then spoke softly, "Goodbitch is on the other side, you want to get us suspend right before the first mission?'

"I'm supposed to ask you that question!", she was screaming quietly, "Why are you drinking here of all plac-"

He pulled her in, looked around for any witness then close the the door.

"It's the only place in that doesn't have any of Ozpin's peep show camera.", he raised the bottle, attempting to take a swig only to be swatted away by Alma.

"Can you stop drinking so we can talk about it?"

"About what?", eye brow raised.

"What happened during the initiation", she put her hands to her hips.

"Ah, Eric talked?"

"Yeah, sit down", she sat down on the ground in front of a shelf and Bach just squat next to her, "Properly."

"One must conduct in appropriately Slavic manner when drinking vodka straight from bottle", it was a horrible Russian accent.

Alma raised her fist and Bach promptly sat down.

"Being mauled by grimm must have hurt a lot, huh", she spoke, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.

" _Hurt a lot"_ , he chuckled, "He didn't really tell you how bad it was?"

"He said you got mauled but a bunch of grimms."

He laughed bitterly, "I got no word to describe the feeling but I can tell you what happened…", he went over the incident in details, with his chest being ripped opened, what was pulled out and how long he had to lie there like that.

"That sounded quite hard to believe, Bach", she said and Bach shrugged in response, "But I can see that you're pretty traumatized by it."

"Yeah...turns out that when you can survive anything doesn't mean you're not scared of anything", He try to took a swig but Alma stared deterred him.

"Look, I understand you don't want to go on the mission, but you should have told me about this. I would have delayed it if I'd known."

"Oh, I'm not trying to avoid this fight club you're setting up, I actually want to do it."

"Huh?", she was kind of surprised, "Really?"

"Yeah, well, you obviously want to help us Improve and I figured that I'll have to start fighting grimms eventually, so this is as good as it gets", he shrugged.

"Then why are you drinking?"

"Liquid courage, my dear Watson."

"My name's not-never mind", she positioned herself in front of him, "Listen, Bach, you don't need to drink for this. I'll jump if there's any sign that you might be get mauled again. I promise."

"Promised?"

"Cross my heart."

"How bout just one more swig? This is top notch Russian Vodka", he cracked a pleading smile.

"No."

"Dang it..."


	10. Chapter 10:Training Montage and The 300

"You look ridiculous, Bach", Eric commented as team ABEL walked between the trees.

"Said the guys who's wearing shirt and jeans that he's quote, supposed to grow into, unquote."

"My dad bought these for me, ok?"

"Yep, there's the problem."

"You do look ridiculous, Bach", Alma turned her head toward Bach, her eyes made a quick glance at her teammate outfit, "Even Liz was cringing at that shirt."

"Yeah", Liz confirmed her sister statement then quickly went back to scanning with her semblance.

"Look", Bach's gauntlet hand extended toward Alma, "If you can wear booty short and a tank top", then toward Liz, "and you can wear a frilly shirt and leggings", then to himself, "then I can wear my gym short and a rainbow colour shirt with a shark-riding cowboy cat to this patrol. Besides, everything else is in the laundry this morning."

"Can't you just do the laundry after this?", Eric asked.

"Then I won't have anything to wear after this."

Alma sighed, "At least the grim won't be able to take their eyes off your either", her eyes went back to scanning the surrounding.

The forest had been quiet so far; the only straggler that they've found so far was a Beowulf which Eric dodged and skewered with a row of spikes. The young team leader was a bit annoyed that the guys might not get enough practice in this patrol.

"So Bach, I'm curious…", Liz spoked, still scanning through her semblance, "Are those stone gauntlets part of a set or is it just custom made?"

"Part of a set"

"Where's the rest then?", Eric asked, his eye was started to wander to the grey stone on the gauntlet, which stuck out like a sore thumb compare to the rest of Bach attire.

"In the storage box with the rest of my armors."

"So they're not in the laundry?", Liz asked to which Bach nodded, "Then why didn't you wear those instead."

"Cause they're heavy and uncomfortable", he shrugged, "If I'm gonna get pummeled to death by a bunch of monsters, I'm sure as hell gonna get as comfy as possible doing so."

"You're not going to be pummelled to death by grimm", Alma answered annoyingly.

"That's your promise to keep but the consequences are mine to suffer", Bach shrugged.

"Can you stop bei-

"Sis, 9 o'clock!", Liz snapped the team attention to the direction, "It's a big one…"

"Is it also alone?"

Lisbet nodded at her sister.

"Alright, Bach, you're up this time."

"Welp, see you on the other side Eric", he started moving toward the grimm.

"Stop being dramatic", his friend answered.

Several steps later, Bach was standing in front of an Ursa that've just burst out from the thicket. His hand felt significantly damper as he tried to push memories of the initiation toward the back of his mind.

"Just keep you guards up and you'll do fine", his teammate called out from behind.

 _Okay, guards up, feet slightly wider than shoulder._ He mimicked whatever he could remember from the training manuals.

 _Lower your stance against bigger opponents._ The Beast growl and crawled forward slowly.

 _Keep your weapon ready to counter, in case of long and great swords, point the tip forward for a thrust or back to the side for a cut._ He chose to prepare for a cut and grim bony spines started standing up.

 _Move forward slowly or wait for an ope-_ The Ursa startled him with a massive roar.

 _Run in with an upward swing_

 _Run away_

 _Pray to the Darksun_

 _What…_

 _Spin to win_

 _Cut the arm_

 _Jump and do a spinning slash_

 _Throw lighting_

 _The…_

 _Roll_

 _Get out a shield_

 _Praise the sun_

 _Throw fireball_

 _Fuck?!_

Bach tensed up as a stream of memories of different people overwhelmed his brain. He remembered having the same problem when fighting Cardin but now with images and flashback to make it more disorienting. Before, head or tail could be made, the ground rumble along with the Ursa's charge.

"Fuck it", he muttered and roll under a swipe.

And he rolled under another one and another one and another one and another one…

"WOULD YOU STOP RUNNING AROUND", Alma yelled.

"AND THEN DO WHAT?", still rolling.

"ANYTHING OTHER THAN ROLLING AROUND!", she facepalmed herself at the game of cat and mouse between Bach and the Ursa.

"At least he's good at avoiding problem", Eric commented which made Liz giggle a bit.

After another swing, the Ursa paused, seemingly frustrated as its glare still fixed on the elusive and somewhat trembling prey. The other party, however, was more concerned about keeping breakfast inside his stomach. His thought was still being scrambled with memories trying to dictate his action. The beast was rearing for another charge. Not wanting to be minced meat again, Bach decided to take do what a good mental patient would: do what the voice told you to.

The Ursa lunged and Bach rolled again but not backward, not sideway, but forward, barely under the massive claw. The Zweihander shot up into a hind leg and continued to rip through as the beast flew by.

Bach stood up as fast as possible, looked at the limping grimm still trying to look for its prey then glanced at the sword in his hands. It felt strange during the moment, like someone else was right under his skin, guiding his action. This could be how undead obtain power in the game. A roar interrupted his contemplation and once again flood his mind with voices.

The loudest told him to go charge and so he did swing his sword in a big overhead strike which the beast answer with its own. Blade and claws clashed but the undead enhanced strength force the Zweihander to keep going downward, shredding the Ursa hand as it went. Bach quickly raised the sword up again, catching its jaw with the back edge before it could recover. The head was knocked back and the beast was facing toward the sky with its head split from the middle. It stood for as there for a moment before falling over, lifeless and disintegrating.

"Wooo!", Bach turned to his team, "Guess he's having a splitting headache!"

The rest of team groaned and some facepalm were made.

"Well, at least, he took it down…" Alma sighed.

"C'mon, I killed the fucker", he walked over, "What else do you need?"

"I think she expected competency, Bach", Eric answered.

"Wait for the next patch then."

* * *

A rifle, C7A2 to be accurate, materialized and was immediately line up toward a Beowulf, trapped amongst a row of barbwires. Eric took a moment to look at the howling monster as it struggled to no avail. He held his breath and squeezed the trigger, letting three bullets smashed through the white bone plate and the thing was put out of its misery.

"Live from Emerald forest where an acts of animal cruelty are performed daily; but for the native of Remnant", Bach held the pommel to his mouth like a microphone, "this is a tradition passed on generation to generation. This Bach, from RNN-1, signing out."

"I wish you put as much effort into practice as you fooled around", Alma shook her head.

"Where's the fun in that", shurgged

"Nice shooting", Lisbet held up a hand as Eric walked back.

"Thanks", he quickly returned the high five.

"Why the barbed wire, though?", Alma asked, deciding to find something better than listen to Bach's nonsense.

"It's smaller and quicker to make than spike walls. Besides…", Eric held up the rifle, "I wanted to try practice my shooting again."

"I thought you didn't have any combat training", Liz spoke.

"Well, not close quarter combat, but they did teach us how to use a gun in the Canadian arm-er… militia."

"Militia, huh?", Alma commented, "Is Canada a frontier town?"

"Errrrr… ", his friend mouthed the word 'yes' from behind Alma and Eric nodded frantically.

"Soooooo…. I guess this patrol is coming to a wrap cuz I can see part of the guard post from here", Bach pointed at a roof, barely visible above the tree line.

Alma sighed, "I should have chosen a route deeper in the forest."

"At least we did get Eric and Bach some practice, even if there were only 3 stragglers."

"And there's always next time, eh?", Bach chimed in while Eric also gave pleading look for the patrol to end.

"Fine, fine, fine", Alma gave in and team ABEL head toward the guard house for extraction.

* * *

The last man had fallen, his blood splattered across the metal electric fence, the lifeless body of his comrades strewn around the floating armored figured. His life and the other guards' were not entirely pure but they were hardly sinful enough to warrant this fate. The Pursuer had done it nonetheless; and his brethren would have to throw away even more of their honor to keep their mistress safe.

He turned to face the tranquil forest and let his mind drift toward the good days of yore, hunting the sinners, slaying the cursed and culling the unworthy. The hiss and glow of his great sword struck fear into the eyes of his prey and brought him great pride. The dents and scratches on his heavy armor were reminder of the greatest hunts. Now, He was just another pawn in a petty scheme while the beloved mistress of his order was broken and trapped. Even worse, the life of a great Pursuer would end here. Sorrow flowed through his heart and the dark magic humanity smouldered from the crevices between the plates of his armor. However, this seemingly tranquil forest was quite the final resting place for his blade.

"This team ABEL requesting extraction at Outpost Epsilon – 6… the signal is not getting through for some reason…"

The group of four emerging from the thickets snapped him out of the trance. Two female with the animal feature similar to some his brethren new allies, Faunus they were called, and two other males whom he did not recognized by face but by the souls they held within, a radiant firekeeper and cursed hollow soul. The group seem to be frightened by him and the bloody carnage he created.

"What the FUCK is a Pursuer doing here?", the undead with the jarring T-shirt yelled, it's good that he recognized his fears.

"You know that thing?!", the short hair Faunus spoke next as Pursuer raised his shield and held his sword next to his head, tip pointing forward.

"Yeah and it ain't friendly."

The Pursuer lunged. It missed as the group scattered but he twisted his body around a delivered a sword cut that sent the undead sailing into the trees when he blocked with the Zweihander. An arrow bounced off his left pauldron which prompted him to turned toward the archer only to faced a dive kick from the other girl. The great shield blocked the blow and his great sword shot out in a counter thrust which missed as the girl ducked under the blade.

"Eric! Hold him!", the girl commanded.

He attempted to elbow her with his sword armed but was staggered by an exploding arrow and chains materializing from thin air. He was open for the faunus to slam the short end of her tong fa in to his waist, following by a dust explosion, propelling the girl backward.

When the smoke cleared, he let out a laughed akin to an ethereal howl as the only effect the blow had was a new scorch mark on his armor. He knew his fate here but they would have to earned his demise, his crimson eyes flared up through the visor at the thought. The short hair Faunus launched herself at him under a hail of arrows and he could the flurry of attack coming. He spun his body as she closed the gap. The dark magic enveloping his body ate through the chained created from souls, his thick armor deflecting incoming arrows and his blade caught the girl mid spin, throwing her aside instead of cleaving through due to her aura. He was free of obstruction and promptly dashed toward the archer girl with his massive shied up, smashing through the stone spike and walls rising from the ground. With a yelp, the girl was knocked against a tree trunk by his shield and he swung his sword upward, intending to cut with the back edge. Instead, the blade met steel as the undead had managed to get back to his feet and intercepted his swing with one of his own. The Pursuer, in his mind, had to respect the cursed being for his strength as his great sword was pushed against the ground and locked in place.

As the faunus moved away, an ball of fire erupted against the side of his face, the other one was back.

"Lock him up again! We got this", the short hair faunus seemed to be the leader.

After a few more rapid hits to the head, the Pursuer bashed away the undead to free his blade but his body was locked in place by a multitude of thick steel spike shooting up from the ground. The helmet was holding but rapid explosive strike from the tong fas and arrows was wearing him down. He reached for the darkness bestowed to within his soul and it came pouring.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY", the undead yelled out to his team, the cursed thing seemed to recognized more than just his appearance but it was too late.

Bolts of dark humanity burst forth from his armor, disintegrating the steel constructs and hitting all his assailants, knocking them down and away. The undead seemed to be the only one who had his body damaged and decayed from the attack, this so called aura had protected the other competently, although he could felt the power of their souls depleting. He pushed his advantage, and once again rushed the archer.

"Liz, Eric, just stay mobile and attack him", the leader spoke as she narrowly deflected a sword blow away from her teammate with her weapon, "Bach and I will keep it busy."

As if on cue, the Zweihander blade slammed into his back plate, doing little to no damage to his body, "Should we be announcing our plan?", the undead asked back.

He swung his blade at the girl and missed. She stayed close to him now, throwing rapid fiery blows with her weapon. He pushed back with a quick shield bash then swing his blade in an arc, ignoring the arrows and spikes crashing against the plate armor. The great sword knocked away an attack from the undead, cutting him in the process, and hit the ground where the little faunus was at the end of the swing. The little thing bounced back toward him at the perceived opening but was met by a geyser of dark humanity. The dark magic knocked the girl back and continued to stream upward then devastated the whole area in a cascading rain of corrupted humanity.

When the dust cleared, the pursuer was the only one floating, his opponents battered and struggling to get back on their feet. It seemed like he would have to keep waiting here for the one who would end him, these people were just another distraction. He let out another howling laugh as he observed the leader whispered to her sister.

"Go, now!", was the only thing he heard before being pushed back by a massive explosion.

More came after and soon he was pushed far away from where he was, with only the leader standing before him. The blows were not damaging but it managed to isolate them from the rest of her teammate. He was intrigued as the girl removed what little metal armored she had left and lowered herself into a combat stance. A last stand for the others to get away.

She made a warrior's choice, then a warrior's answer would be given. He raised his blade and let out an ethereal howl.


	11. Chapter 11: Assisted Suicide

Alma's plan to stall the hulking floating heavily-armored giant was going to be much shorter than expected with each seconds of fighting. She ducked under another swing, jumped up and twisted her body to deliver a blow with her tong fa to its head. The attack lacked any extra force from her dust crystals since they were spent separating the monster from her team in the first place. A shield bash connected as she dropped down and flung the Faunus to a nearby tree trunk. She made an attempt to stand only to immediately collapse, her back leaning against the tree. She was glaring defiantly at the giant but her body trembled as the thing hovered closer.

Alma knew that this was the end, her aura spent and her body couldn't even muster enough strength to run away, not that she could outrun this. At least, everyone else would be safe, her only consolation in this unfortunate outcome. The monster was standing before her now, sword raised to deliver the end.

"OI, GITS! COME 'ERE ZO I KAN KRUMP YA GUD!", Bach's voice rung out through the air and the giant tore itself away from her with a deafening howl.

* * *

"Any big cannon is fine, Eric", Bach said as he slipped a ring on a shaking finger, the octagon on it displayed a skull, "It just have to be ready to fire as soon as I call for it."

Eric was crouching on one knee, catching his breath from the giant's attack while trying to take in Bach's plan, "Ok and protective barrier around everyone else."

"Yes"

"What are you trying to do?", Liz hobbled up to the two guys, her eyes were watering from the prospect losing her sister.

"Trying to save everyone in the dumbest way possible", Bach stood up, pulling out a short knife from his pocket.

"You could die-"

"And you're fine with Alma dying?", He retorted.

"No…but…I…She…", her voice broke.

"Then stay close Eric", he turned to Eric, "Remember, shoot it as soon as I tell you to, no mater what", and he sprinted toward the sound of fighting and Alma voice.

As he ran, Bach clutched the metal charmed on his right hand close to his chest and started the chant of a miracle that he thought he would never use.

 _His walked toward his final suffering and death_

 _The crown drew blood from his flesh_

 _The festering wounds devoured the resolves he held_

 _Yet he must keep walking_

 _For it is their sin he carried_

 _For it is their salvation he shall delivered_

Dark purple smoke shrouded his form, signalling that miracle had been cast and anything hostile would only be hostile to him.

"I'mma be soooo cheesed if this is going to be permanent…", he muttered as the Pursuer and Alma came into sight. He quickly stopped, took a deep breath and bellowed, "OI, GITS! COME 'ERE ZO I KAN KRUMP YA GUD!"

The thing turned and howled as soon as it saw him; the sight of its sword readying for a charge told him that the miracle worked.

"Eric! Start the cannon!", he quickly yelled over the shoulder before slamming a ball of fire on his chest, covering himself in a shimmering coat of iron.

The Pursuer lunged forward and Bach made no attempt to dodge, letting the massive blade ran him through all the way to the base. With clenching teeth and a face twisted from pain, Bach grab its sword arm with his left and plunge a knife into the gap between its pauldron and chest plate. Between the weight added by the iron flesh pyromancy and his sheer undead strength, he would not let the thing get anywhere.

"SHOOT NOW", Bach hollered, choking on his own blood.

"But-

"FIIIIIIREEEEEEEEEEEE"

* * *

Emerald forest shook as the boom of a Flakk 88 thundered through the air.

Her ears were still ringing, even with a steel wall between her and whatever had happened a few moments ago. What did Bach do and why was he there in the first place? The silence from beyond this barrier, which no doubt was made by Eric, gave no answer. At last, she propped herself up and limp around the wall, with notably difficulties, fear weighting down her every steps. She was afraid that it was still there, Eric and Bach might have die, and her sister might still be in danger or worst. She was afraid to know.

Alma pushed on nonetheless, afraid or not, she needed to know. As she rounded the corner, a wave of relief washed over she saw the Eric and Lisbet from the other side of what seemed to be a blast zone. However, their faces were pale and their eyes were locked at her, no, something near her and they were terrified of it. Her gaze moved slightly to the right and there it was, the giant monster, in chunks strewn across the ground. Inky black gas oozing from what left of the thing. Dead.

Another very prominent thing in the scene was a green ball of fire floating amongst the remains, floating and dripping red blood. With a sense of safety from the death of the dreaded giant, she moved toward the remains to inspect when her foot hit something, causing her to pause and looked down. It was a leg, just a leg. She physically recoiled from the ghastly piece of gore, whatever it was supposed to connect to was now just some clump of bloody and charred meat confetti right above the knee. Then more was caught in her vision, bit and pieces but one made her collapse on the ground in shock. She couldn't utter a word, only sat there and looked at it. Slumped on the steel wall was what's left of an arm wearing a stone gauntlet, it was Bach's hand and it was wearing his gauntlet.

Alma heard small choking cry and turned to see her sister bawling into Eric shoulder while he hugged her. She felt her heart sank and the guilt gripping her body, freezing it into a statue.

"It's my fault…", Alma mouthed.

She knew that even the safest patrol could have dangers they weren't readied for but she took them on one anyway. And now, she even failed at protecting her teammate, the one she promised that nothing would happened to him. She continued to stare at the remains as they seemed to dissipated in to ash floating through the air

Sudden yelps from her sister and Eric snapped her out of the trance. Separating the two was a stream of flame coming out of the lantern on Eric's hips, merging with the ashes in the air. The radiant fire twisted into the form of a person, skeleton first, then flesh and finally the clothes: a rainbow colour shirt depicting a cat riding a shark. Alma was speechless as Bach, who immediately doubled over as soon as he was in one piece again.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…. Why the FUCK IS PHANTOM PAIN A THING?", he clawed at his stomach, sank to his knee and started vomiting.

"Bach, is that you?", Liz was the first to speak after a long period of vomit sounds.

"No, I'm the *huff* queen of England. Of course, it's fookin me", he tried to catch his breath.

Eric walked slowly to him, "How are you…Did you actually die?", he extended a hand half way don't know if he should even be near the guy right now.

After another cough, Bach nodded, wiped away the dripping snot with a hand and shook his head.

"What just happened-how did you just-", Alma approached the group, barely able to find her voice.

"Just...give me a moment", he was on his feet now, barely as his hand was still propping his body up against his knee, "Can we… just go back first…I'll explain everything tonight."

Alma look at him than at her sister and Eric, everyone shared an exhausted expression and concern. She sighed, feeling the air empty out of her lung and pulled out her scroll.

"This is team ABEL requesting emergency extraction at the following coordinates", she spoke, hoping the emergency signal would get through where the normal broadcast had failed.

"This is Beacon, we're on our way."

* * *

With the exception of the pilot's comments about the dead guards at the post, the trip back to was a quiet one. Everyone was too tired and confused say much, no one even bothered to question Bach when he seemingly absorbed the bleeding green ball of energy near where his pieces were. During the flight, they could see other transport going toward the now desolated guard post, no doubt to investigate the cause. That's a job for full huntsmen and huntresses, however, theirs was to report to the Academy, which Alma decided to do it alone so the rest of the team can unwind first. Thus, the three remaining members were now sitting around the center of their dorm room as awkward silence hung in the air since getting ready for doesn't take long.

"So…um… Bach, you said you'd explain what happened…", Liz spoke first, twirling with a few strands of her hair.

"Shouldn't we wait for your sister to get back first?"

"Yeah…", she answered as the silence slowly crept back.

Bach's eyes wander from the Faunus to his friend then, with a shrugged, he pulled a bottle of whiskey out of his pocket. This made Eric looked at him incredulously.

"Are you seriously going to start drinking here? Now?"

"I just got blown to kingdom come and I can still remember how it felt, mate", he started unscrewing the cap, "I'm surprise I didn't just start as soon as we got back."

"Pillock…"

"Screw you too, buddy."

"Maybe you could tell me about that?", Liz interjected.

"My drinking habit?"

"That's not what I meant!", She pointed at his pocket, "How did you keep pulling stuffs out of your pocket? Is it something like Eric's semblance?"

"Huh", Eric followed up, "You've never really tell me about that either…"

Realization dawned on Bach's face, "Yeah, you're…right", he put his hand in his right pocket again, "Welp, better late than never", and pulled a small wooden box.

"Storage box, inventory box, bottomless box, etc… call it whatever you want but the fact is: it can store anything of any size with an infinite capacity", his hand warped into into the small opening as he put it into the tiny box and start pulling out the long hilt of the Zweihander.

"Wow", both Liz and Eric looked at the demonstration.

"And the best thing is…", he smacked the box with the box with the sword pommel, "it's nigh indestructible."

"Doesn't it feel heavy carry all that stuff?", the Faunus asked.

"I think it just nullify the weight until I pulled the item out again", the Zweihander was tossed back into the box.

"It's that where you kept all your alcohol?", Alma voice directed everyone attention to the door.

"Yep…"

"How much are you keeping in there?", she closed the door and then proceed to join the circle, crossing her leg as she sat down.

"To be honest… ", Bach eyes glance aside as he recounted, "…there gotta be at least a liquor store worth of booze in there, I couldn't even count them all last inventory check."

Alma sighed and shook her head.

"So…did anything happened?", Liz asked

"Headmaster Ozpin was also there to inquire about what happened at the guard post. I told him everything…", she looked at the two guys, "…except how we killed the thing, I gave them a vague answer. I wanted to hear your explanation first."

"Thanks", both of the guys said in unison.

"Now that we're all here, I think you can start telling us how you survive that?"

"Well… how about we make this exposition a little bit more interesting?", Bach pulled four shot glasses from the bottomless box, "Let's play a game."

"Err let's not do that, Bach", Eric looked physically ill at the thought of doing shot with his friend.

"Are you inviting us to drink with you?", Liz raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm inviting you to play a game", Bach shrugged, "Each of you take turn asking me a question. If I don't want to answer it truthfully or when I wanted to ask a question, then I take a shot. If any one asks more than one question per turn or asked out of turn, they drink for every extra question. Skipped question also means a shot."

"And why would we agree to this?", Alma's voice was stern.

"Look, I'm going to take my mind off what happened with booze anyway. So either you guys do it with me here, in a control environment, or I'm roaming the hall later tonight."

The three other member able looked at each other for a bit, all agreeing to not have any drunken antics happen and be traced back to the team.

"And you'll promise not to go out and drink later?"

"Yes."

"Alright, we'll humor you but I'll be drinking for my si-"

"No sis, I can do it", Liz smiled and held a finger up to stop her sister protest, "Besides, I think you'll be the one drinking a lot."

"Fine", she answered, a bit miffed by her sister comment.

"I'll regret this tomorrow", Eric lamented.

"C'mon Eric, you're always the star of the party. Now…", Bach pulled out another bottle from his box, a bourbon bottle with the word "STAGG" written in large prominent letters. "Let's get some minors wasted."

"Oh dear…"


	12. Chapter 12: Round Table Exposition

With the shot glasses filled and an assortment of other bevarages at the ready, team ABEL began their questioning game to Bach's delight and his teammates expense.

"So let's start with the team leader then Liz then the scrub", Bach said excitingly.

"Screw you too, Bach."

"Alright, I'll begin", Alma cleared her throat, "How did you survive being blown up like that?"

"Simple, I didn't."

"What do you mean?", Alma asked and instantly regret it, cursing her her quick reaction.

"I die and was brought back to life", he smiled, "Bottoms up."

The alcohol burns like fire in as Alma tried to drink up the shot. She was coughing and gagging until the liquid settle uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach.

"I'll handle this, sis", Liz was snickering a bit at her sister, "What exactly are you?"

"Ah that's a good question", Bach waved a finger at the girl, "I'm an undead or unkindled, called it how you like."

"Eric asked him abo-"

"Tut tut tut, you can't tell other to ask you question", Bach was wagging his finger, "That'll take the fun out of this."

"You're no fun", Liz pouted.

"So what's your question, Mr. Kim Jong Un?", he quickly downed a shot and exhaled sharply.

"You pillock", Eric frowned at the annoyance and contemplated what to ask, "You told me that I'm a firekeeper before, what exactly is a firekeeper?"

"Well, a firekeeper is a person, preferably a woman but you'll fit the bill, whose souls is tie to a bonfire", Bach pointed at the burning lantern on the ground, "If the fire is put out, you can die permanently and the only know way to put it out right now, is to kill you. Luckily, you're semi-immortal."

"What do you mean by semi-immortal?", Eric realised what happened, frowned then pick up his glass, "How do you even tolerate this stuff? Wait, that's a rhetorical question and this is a horrible idea", he commented as the alcohol made him clutched his head wile squeezing his eyes shut for a moment.

Bach chuckled at his friend's misery, "Sure thing snowflake. It means: to actually make you stay dead, someone needs to perform an extra step of moving your soul far away from the fire, I think, base on what happened on what happened to other firekeepers. Other than that, I think you can live forever."

The girls were contemplated on the somewhat disturbing fact about their teammate. Eric's hand unconsciously went to the lantern as he realized his life was literally bound to the thing.

"My turn", Alma said, "Does being undead let you come back to life through a bonfire?"

"Yes", the curt answer made Alma look very unamused, "You'll need to avoid yes or no questions, mate."

The angrily took another shot, her whole body shivered, "Fine…ugh…how does it differs from Eric?"

"Well first, I don't actually need a bonfire. Given time, I could just pull myself together like one of the Abyss Watchers, the bonfire just speeds it up as far as I know…", he scratched his chin, remembering the lore about the boss, "…and maybe help with preventing insanity."

"What insa-

"Sis, it's my turn", Liz cut her sister off before another unwitting shot, "What do you mean by insanity?"

"An undead can live forever, un-aging, but if they lose their sanity, they turn into a mindless shambling zombie of sort", Bach rocked back and forth slightly as he thought about his eventual fate, "And every time an undead die, they lose a part of their soul, their source of strength, and parts of their memories. It's kinda hard to keep yourself sane if you keep forgetting who you are or what you're trying to do."

"So, if you keep dying, you'll eventually go crazy?", Eric asked.

"No, remember that green ball I sorta absorb before we went back?", everyone nodded as Bach took his shot, "It was a part of my souls and my memories. I think one of the bonfire functions is to bring me back to life fast enough to retrieve what I've lost before it dissipates of taken by someone else."

"That sounds kind of amazing and morbid at the same time", Liz commented, "Wait, are you guys actually like a thousand years old?"

"Take you shot and I'll tell", he said gingerly.

The girl mentally smacked herself then looked down at the shot glass. The others' reaction and the strong scent of alcohol made her take a nervous gulp of her own saliva. But before Alma could offer to take the drink for her, she raised the glass and drank it in one go, hoping to swallow fast enough that the taste won't matter.

"aaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkhhha…pfft…ahk…", to the game master's amusement, Liz had a huge coughing fit as her plan obviously didn't work, "This stuff is terrible…akh...", she groaned, "how do you- I'm not going to ask…", in an attempt to sooth the burn, she started drinking from a water bottle.

"I know, right", Bach chuckled excitedly, "Yang actually returned this bottle after she bought it and asked for a weaker one."

"Alright, let me see what's in it", Alma picked up the bottle and started reading the content, "70%!? This is practically poison!"

"That's why we have other stuffs to chase it down and I never said you have to finish the shot when you take it. Heck, usually when I drink, Prince Lightweight over here take a third of a shot whenever I take one", Eric shot his friend an annoyed glare, "You guys just assumed and never asked. Always clarify the rules, mate", Bach smiled and pointed at Alma, trying to look like a smooth criminal.

"Eric may have told this many time, but I gotta say Bach: you're an asshole."

"Yes, I am", he answered gingerly.

"Guys, guys, let's just get the rest of the answer from him…", Liz interrupted, feeling a bit better.

"Right… So back to the topic…", Bach sucked in his lips, "Eric and I are not a thousand years old. In fact, this whole situation started like a week before the initiation and that's how we got accepted", he quickly winked at his friends, hoping the guy wouldn't ruin the obvious lie.

"But can we live for ever?", Eric took his turn.

"Theoretically, yes. I haven't live that long yet", he took a shot then tuned to the girls, "I'll ask another question, do you guys have tails?"

"And this is what you ask…", Alma respond as the two sister gave him a blank stare.

"Well I'm just curious with how many faunus I've seen around campus", he shrugged, "Plus, I pretty there's another person who would be really interested in the question", the sly comment obviously aimed at the cat girl fanatic in the room, much to the person's approval and embarrassment.

"Alright…Fine…We don't have any."

"But uncle Ander and our cousins does", Liz added.

"Why? Is it hereditary? What does your cousins look like?", Eric blurted out of curiosity.

The girls startled at the sudden inquisitor outburst then moved their gaze at Bach who was grinning with an already filled shot glass extended at his friend.

"I'll give you a discount of only 1 full shot this time."

"You imbecile…", Eric grumbled under his breath then drank. He was swaying as he set the glass down, "Oh god… I don't feel good…"

"Just drink a bit of water", Liz offered, "Uhm…about his question… We really don't know why or how to describe our cousin", Alma nodded in confirmation.

"Then that's skipped questions, but for since Eric only drank one you guys only have to drink one. So, which would…"

Wordlessly, Alma took a shot, "Itrsss myr turn now too aaask", she slurred a bit after the swallowing the liquid fire.

"Okay… go ahead…"

"Are there more of you out there?"

"No, not that I know of."

"How did you two become undead and this firekeeper thing?", Liz took her turn.

Both guys looked at each other for a moment, not knowing if they should tell the absurd truth or make up a lie. After a moment Bach just took a shot

"Let's just say it was a very dumb mistake made by not very bright people and now I am really regretting this undead part now that I start thinking about this."

"Srro…", Eric started, trying to stabilize his speech as the alcohol started to work on his legendary endurance, "Sssince you saird functions, what else can this fire thing do?"

"Well, it can heal anything, we've all seen that before and since your ability/semblance used your souls, so in a way it provides you with the fuel."

"Wouldn't that mean he'll use up the fire eventually?", Alma asked.

"I can just feed the souls I have to the fire if it gets weak anyway."

"The souls you have?", the team leader follow-up instinctively then grudgingly took a shot.

"Right, I haven't touched on that matter yet. So, I can absorb the souls of anything that die near me. Actually, an Undead can somewhat prevent insanity and grow stronger this way", Everyone else looks quite uncomfortable at this revelation, "Look, I not going to do stupid shit like that, I'm not that kind of arsehole. Besides, there's a mountain of grimm out there If I ever need to."

"And… you can give Eric souls?", Liz asked.

"I feed my souls to the fire is what you mean. Makes it stronger and in turn our buddy here but also makes me weaker."

"You know; this whole undead thing doesn't sound too good for you so far."

"No, it isn't great. Probably gonna have to find the cure soon."

"Theeere's a c-c-crure?", Eric slurred.

"Well, there's these crowns which can apparently get rid of all the mental problems but still leave you undead. It's not a complete cure but It's the next best thing."

"And where would you find these crowns?", asked Alma.

"Probably with the person who gave me this box and unfortunately it equates to: I have no idea."

"So you didn't want to have this in the first place?", Bach took a pause and look at Eric at this question.

"Yeah, all this can be amazing and all but we didn't really ask for this. Eric and I would also want to see our family again one day."

"We have no idea how to…", Eric somberly added, "So we settled for Beacon. It's been quite enjoyable so far though", he looked reassuringly at Liz.

"Said the guy who blew me up with a canon."

"Cause you told me to."

"Yes, I did and now I regret it."

"Then, we'll help you cure this undeadness and see your family again", Alma announced which made the guys look at her with curiosity, "We're are a team and as team leader, I will take care of my teammates."

"Yeah, we take care of each other", Liz followed.

"Thanks, but do you know even where we came from?", Eric asked, mentally remind himself of the turns.

"Well, you said a town called Canada. How hard is it to just buy an airship ticket there?", Alma asked.

"Well, we lied…", Bach answered, "…it's not a town, more like an island that can't be access by anything mean short of magic."

"Then how did you get here?", Liz spoke.

"We were brought here by some mysterious person", Eric ran to his desk and came back with the letters, "And all the clues we had were these."

The sisters took the papers and started reading, intrigued by this mysterious figured. However, when they put down the readings, there weren't left with any answers.

"The Goddess of Love?", Alma asked which prompted Bach to hand her a shot glass.

"I had my hunch on who that is but it's just a hunch…", he sais as Alma recoil from the strong liquor, "…but if anyone know how to get us back home, it's probably her."

"Then we'll just have to find this Goddess first", Liz clasped her hands together, "And everything will get sorted out."

"But can we find her?", Eric turned to Bach.

"We are supposed to do something for her according to these letters, so I expected contact soon."

"Well, that settles it", Alma spoke as clearly as she can, "We find this self-proclaimed Goddess, cure this condition for you and go to Canada", she raised a glass of water for a toast, intending to ending the game at that point.

Liz followed her sister example, Eric hesitate a bit before doing and Bach raised a shot glass instead. After the toast, they look at each other for a bit before getting ready for bed, each feeling the effects of the alcohol as they did so. Bach, however, took out the Zweihander and a small assortment of swords and others gears.

"What are you doing?", Alma asked.

"Let me ask you this first: why are you trying so hard?", the question took everyone back in surprise, "It's not anything negative. You know that feeling when your grandma keeps giving money behind your mother's back? Makes you felt a bit uncomfortable so I just wanna know."

"I told you, we're team-

"No, being good teammates is Pyrrah giving Jaune occasional extra practices after classes and giving him a shoulder to whine on. You are giving up all your weekends to vigorously beat a good Huntsman out of me, which also gave me more broken bones than my whole life up until now and it hurts.

Then there's today's little mission. I heard from Liz that you begged some other team to swap for the patrol. You were also way too ready to be a canon fodder back there. So, tell me why try so hard for a couple of fuck ups."

She wasn't if it was the alcohol or not, but Alma was feeling tiny under Bach's expectant stare. Her feet were fidgeting when a gauntlet hand extended toward her with a shot glass.

"Or you could skip."

She stared at the glass for a moment before pushing it with her hand. She took a deep breath, "It's… because I'm the fuck up."

"Sis, it wasn't your-

"Stop, Liz…", a hand was hell up to silence the sister, "Mom got hurt because I was being reckless. I couldn't save myself back then with this useless semblance and I couldn't even keep my team in one piece in the forest. I'd never be a great Huntress…", her eyes were filled with longing and hope as she looked back at her team, "…but you all have amazing abilities. If I can't be the best, then maybe I could help you become the best with everything I can."

By the end of the confession, her hands were already balled up into fists and her eyes were focus on the ground just in front of her feet.

"And I thought Eric had mental problems…", It felt like someone just broke a glass bottle between them.

"Hey! That was mean", Eric exclaimed.

"Sssh… let me continue…", he came up to the apprehensive team leader, "…You think that you're useless so you try to be useful by bettering others, I get it. But I think you also can't trust anyone to be better by themselves. You tried to come up with solutions by yourself and won't let any of us pratice with out supervision. Heck, you don't even let me practice at night when I clearly can't sleep."

"That's because of yo-

"My drinking, yes, but you made Liz coach Eric all weekend too."

"I don't mind that, Bach", Liz responded.

"No, you said don't mind it but we are working seven days a week guys, everyone is bloody exhausted on Monday morning. And it's not like we don't have self-study session, that's what Friday's afternoons are for. But you kept pushing, yourself the hardest."

He ended the and took a moment to breath and calm himself down.

"Is it true, Liz?", her shaky voiced betrayed the anger she was showing on her face.

"It's okay sis, it's just...", she looked into her sister eyes for a moment and finally relented, "…it is exhausting working seven days a week."

Alma's lip was a thin line and for a while she looked torn between yelling or crying. Finally, she spoke, barely audible, "I'm sor-

"NOPE!", everyone was startled by the sudden yell from Bach, "No apologies, my dad do it all the time and he still forgot to pick me up every now and then", he took strides toward the startled team leader and put his hands on her shoulders, "Instead, just do better, because despite what you think…", his eyes looked directly into hers, "…principal generic-calm-and-cool-guy didn't choose you because he thought that you were the best huntress. He chose you because he thought you were the best leader.

So talk to us, listen to what we say and don't say, stay calms, and come up with a good solution to our team problems. Don't let what ever happened haunt you every thought. Sometimes, people need to get better by themselves so trust us and trust yourself."

"I-I…", her eyes moved away from his face before she closed them, took a deep breath, "Thanks", she spoke with a weary voice again.

"Cool", he took his hands off, "Just take it easy for today. There's the rest of the year to boss me around."

"And by the look of things, I guess you want to go practice alone."

"Yep."

"Then give me the box. I still can't trust you to not drink especially after what happened today."

"Only if you promise to git gud", he extended a hand holding the bottomless box.

Alma let out a sigh that was almost a chuckle, "Sure I'll get better", and took it

With the approval, Bach was quick to move toward the door, "Cool, the patrol gave me an idea on how to git gud myself."

With that, he was out the door along with his assortment of swords. The rest of team ABEL decide to end the night there and quickly went to bed.


	13. Chapter 13: Call a Lawyer

In the middle of a castle courtyard, two figures clashed against one another, the sound of steel echoed through the winter's air and numerous footprints dotted the pristine carpet of snow. With a roar, the young man made an upward swing then stop at eye level to quickly stab forward. Just as the attack was deflected, he quickly pivoted the blade at to perform two quick sweeps and pulled back in to a stance, holding his sword hilt near his face with the blade pointed up slightly backward.

"You call that sword play, boy?", the opponent, a bulky man with balding grey hair, laughed.

The young stabbed his sword forward and let the blade be swatted to the right to power a sweep from the left using the momentum. However, he was knocked back by shoulder check mid swing. By the time he found his footing, the old man's sword was by his throat, nicking a bit of blood as the edge press against his skin.

"Is this what our lady will have to settle with?", he gave the young man an infuriating grin, "Half-baked swordsman with so much ambitions and so little talent?", he started laughing again.

Wordlessly, the youngster smacked the sword aside and proceed to charged at the old man with fury and they were locked in a dance of swords. As the exchanges became ever more deadly, their surrounding began to melt away into a the green of spring. Then, the sun of summer was shinning upon them. The falling leaves followed shortly and finally the snow returned. This kept on repeating as swords clashes against one another and each man gave the other no quarter. Then suddenly, the old man's sword was knocked aside and the lad's was now pointed to his throat. The autumns leaves were falling around them, as the old man smile, beaming with what could only be describe as pride.

"Well done, boy", he said, "You are ready."

Hearing that, the lad stuck his sword to ground and took a knee, waiting for the blessing of his teacher. He looked up as a hand was on his shoulder.

"As one of the first blades and by the authority granted to me by the Lady of Raven, I name you…"

In place of the old mentor, stood a pale woman with elegant raven hair that flowed down to her lower back. Her dress was a coat of raven's feather that had with collar cutting deep toward her stomach. She was alluring yet imposing.

He was looking at her through a visor of a heavy helm and kneeling in a cathedral amongst others similarly cladded in heavy armored.

"Sinners! This is your redemption and the Raven shall be your judge", she stood tall on an pedestal of black marble, her voice was like silk but the tone was harsh, "Hunt down the cursed and the damned, cull the unworthy less they become the desperate and sinners. Go forth my Pursuers, let your final hunt wash away your sins."

Abruptly, everything disappeared and replaced by a serene garden under the light of the broken moon. Kneeling in the middle was Bach with his Zweihander stuck into the ground next to him. Sweating profusely, he stood up and start dusting the knee that was on the ground a moment a go.

"Welp…that was more than I asked for…", with a sigh, he laid the great sword to rest against the edge of a large rectangular planter.

He sat down and look at the damage done to the Academy backyard. Scattered nearby were branches and leaves that were unfortunate enough to be near him during the trance.

"Janitors ain't gonna be happy about this…", he muttered to the air.

When first started this experiment, the weaker souls took over and this improved his sword work significantly but it also created an awkwardly familiar sensation, like someone was under his skin and swinging his sword. At one point, the notion of trying it out with the recently dead Pursuer seemed like a good idea until he was hallucinating like his first time eating shrooms.

The light of dawn broke his train of thought and prompted Bach to check the time on his scroll. It was a few more hours until breakfast so, he picked up a pair of curved swords nearby and once again took his position in the center of the garden.

"Ok…one more time…no unneeded bullshit…", he steadied his breath and listen to the voices of the dead inside his head. Gradually, he silenced them until there was only the one he was looking for, the voices of a dancer.

* * *

"Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh...", groaned Eric as he buried his head on the table between his arms.

"Here have some hot soup, it'll make you feel better", the clanking from the tray liaid down by Liz got him to perk up, "Hangover is that bad, huh?"

"You have no idea…ugh…", he moved a hand to massage one of his temple, "…remind me never to drink anything given by Bach again."

"You know, he said that you say that a lot", she took a bit out of the pancakes.

"I do…why do I keep doing this to myself?"

"Because it's easy to make you do anything", he finally ate some of the soup.

"Did Bach also tell you that?"

"No, it just doesn't take much for you to agree to my training program, which basically have me practicing archery at you", she giggled.

"I see…", he felt miffed but could afford to be mad at the cute cat girl in front of him so he just let out a weak chuckle, "…I'll get you back."

"You'll have to be a better huntsman first", she smiled while cutting up a piece of bacon.

"So about your mother", Eric spoke up after a bit of silence eating, "What happened? You don't have to answer if-

"It's okay", Liz put down the knife and fork, relaxing her shoulder a bit, "Alma and me had always wanted to be a great huntress like our mother. So when we first discovered our semblances, sis wasn't so happy with a ball of light, not a lot of people would.

So, she thought that facing down a something dangerous would bring out the real semblance. Unfortunately, she attracted the attention of a number alpha grimms and mom got hurt in the fight. She can't walk anymore…"

"I'm sorry…"

"You know…", she sighed, "I don't blame sis but I also don't know how to stop her from tearing herself up either, other than just being there for her until…", she looked into Eric's eyes, "…last night…well…I guess we just needed an objective opinion on the matter."

"I bet Bach just wanted to get out of the room."

Liz giggled, "That's probably it."

The two of them looked at each other, sharing a moment but suddenly, a tray slammed down next to Liz.

"I LOVE PANCAKES"

The loud announcement almost startled the Faunus and made Eric hugged his temples, the hangover making anything normal loud and anything loud unbearable.

"Calm down, Nora", Ren tried to calmed down the hyper-active girl then turned to the sitting pair, "Sorry about her, I tried."

The two exchanged greetings with team JNPR as they settled down on the table. Eric's attempt was just a weak "hey" before laboriously work on his soup again.

"What's gotten into him?", Jaune asked.

"A hangover…"

"Our team had drinking game last night", Liz clarification surprised team JNPR.

"I don't think Alma would agree to something like that", Pyrrah commented, "I'm sorry but for something like a drinking game, she's too…"

"Boawring?", Nora chirped with a mouthful of pancake.

"Noraaa", Ren tried to remind his childhood friend of manners.

"Well, she is a bit of a stickler", Liz giggled, "We had some problems to discussed and Bach managed to convinced us that it'd help with the conversation. It was surprisingly productive by the end."

"I see, it kinda makes sense for the floor's smuggler to come up with the idea", Jaune commented.

"The floor's smuggler?", Eric perked up.

"You don't know?", Ren explained, "He sold alcohol to all first years."

"Wow", the two member of team Abel said in unison.

"Well, that's something he wouldn't want sis to know about."

"About what?", Alma appeared behind her sister, almost making the girl jump.

"Nothing, found your scroll?", she quickly changed the subject.

"Yeah, forgot it in the bathroom for some reason", as she sat down, Alma was nursing a hangover, "I also found him on the way back", she gestured toward the person settling down next to Eric.

"Sup", Bach greeted everyone, "Having the Monday blues, I see."

"Did you really practice all night?", Alma start cutting her pancake.

"C'mon, I'm diligence person", Bach dramatically hug his heart, faking a hurt expression.

"So, how was it?", Liz asked.

"It…", Bach took a sip of tea, "…was actually quite weird."

"How so?"

"I'll show you guys on Friday, still have some kinks to work out…", he shoveled a chunks of pancake and bacon in his mouth.

As the meal went on with the teams exchanging conversation and jokes, an announcement went over the PA system.

"Team ABEL", professor Goodwitch voice blared, "Please report to the principal office after breakfast."

Everyone in the table turned their eyes toward Bach who was looking very insulted by whatever presumption they had in mind.

"Oh c'mon, I din do nuffin…not that I know of…"

"Then why are they calling us to the office?", Alma said accusingly.

"I don't know, about the patrol, maybe?"

The team leader looked at his equally angry face a bit, "Let's just finish eating then we'll find out later…"

* * *

The room was more dimly lit than Eric expected and the intense look from Goodwitch only made him felt uneasy. Ozpin, on the other hand, was quite relax, unsurprisingly, with one hand resting on the armrest and the other holding his favorite coffee mug. However, standing next to Ozpin desk was a woman he didn't recognize. She was as tall, probably more than seven feet, but the fullness of her face and the cascading blonde braids gave her an regal aura of warmth and elegance. The long white dress covering her body was lined with all manner of golden embroideries which seemed to be radiating light. The lady looked and smiled, making him felt a wave of calmness washed over his mind.

"I'm sure you are all wondering why you're here", Ozpin broke the silence.

"Yes, professor", the leader of ABEL replied.

"I want to establish a degree of understanding between us and discuss your team's patrol yesterday…", he pressed picked up remote with his free hand to bring up a projector hidden in the coffee table in the idle of the room.

"Someone picked up the phone, cuz I called it", Bach whisper as loud as possible to the team.

"Not now, Bach", Eric tried to shut his friend up.

"We are quite worried about the appearance of this strange Giant and its capabilities but…", a series of pictures projected to a screen, detailing the event of yesterday but most prominently was Bach's suicidal charge, "…I am more concerned why this was left out of the report and the nature of my students."

The inquisitorial statement was met by Alma nervousness as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

"Incomplete report aside, shouldn't you already know about that?", Bach spoke first, nonchalantly, "Since you got all these hidden camera stuffs, you've probably seen something similar during initiation day."

"But we did not", Ozpin took a sip, "I mostly reviewed footage from the Academy official drones during the event until now."

"So me mending broken bones with a bottle of liquid fire never raised a question?"

"Ms. Goodwitch and I was aware of your remarkable ability to heal but we chalked it up to your semblance and contrary to your beliefs, I like to respect my students' privacy."

"So this incident finally made you do research? And I thought I was lazy college student."

"Will you shut it!", Alma finally spoke, "I'm so sorry about him."

"It's okay Miss Campbell", Goodwitch replied in soft tone, "We've had more than one student with attitude. However, we still want to know why you've decided to keep this out of your report."

The team leader took a deep breath, "It's because I also respected my teammates' privacy. Who he wants share his secrets with is his decision."

"Erm…to be honest, it's more like I couldn't be bother with the profs of this place", Bach commented, drawing glares from everyone but the strange lady.

"Really? Bach, really?", Eric just looked at him in disbelief, "Could you be more of a pillock?"

"Well, sorry I couldn't be well mannered when looking at HD pictures of me being blown to kingdom come", he pointed at the projections, "Nice picture though, I'd love to get some lenses like that."

"Then couldn't you just stay quiet?"

"My apologies", Ozpin calmly turned off the projection, "I understand that information is yours but any information about you could have be quite crucial since you are connected to this…Pursuer."

"Wait…how'd you know that? Even my team forgot to asked about the Pursuer last night", Bach raised an eyebrow.

"Because I deemed it was necessary to informed them of their new enemy, our enemy, and of you, my champions, who would assist them in the coming conflict", the strange lady finally spoke with an almost serene voice, "It is within my authority for I am, after all, Fina the Goddess of Love, your benefactors."

"So, you are the mysterious Goddess?", Alma sounded surprise, "I didn't think we'll find you this easily."

"No, my child, I did not plan to involved myself directly but I found their efforts as my herald to be…", her face resembled a disappointed mother looking at her sons, "…lacking. The strength I gave you might have been weak compare to the Ash who ended the flame but you seemed to be wasting all of its potential. Despite the fact that I've provided you with the inventory you wished for."

"What I wished for…what WE wished for…", Bach suddenly burst out in anger, "…was for the bloody rain to end! And it's not like you gave me a bloody manual. I played the game, I wasn't in it! You can give a kid the best gun in the world and he'll still be more likely to shoot himself without proper guidance."

"Yes, I can see the lack of experience from your encounter with the Pursuer. Therefore, until you are more proficient with my gifts, I've decided to become an advisor to Mr. Ozpin in preparation for the coming war against our adversary."

"Can't we just go home since you'll be working with the Huntsman?", Eric was feeling hopeful.

"Unfortunately my dear, I am but a Goddess of Love. I can grant my followers power and desires but I am by no mean a goddess of combat.", quickly as it came, Eric hope was dashed.

"So you'll still want us as some sort of personal guard…", bitter was Bach's voice.

"Indeed, and even if I wanted to relieved you of the contract, it's impossible for to bring you home as of now."

"Why can't you bring them home? Aren't you a goddess?", Alma asked.

"A Goddess is nothing without the worship her follower, child. I am no exception, granting their wish and crossing dimensions took all that was left of me. However, if they fulfilled their end of the bargain and spread my name to the for corner of Remnant…"

"…and preachers too…", Bach grumbled.

"Ma'am", Goodwitch interrupted, "It doesn't seem like the contract between you and my students were made with their consent."

"My dear…", she turned to the prof, "…no matter how fleeting it was, a wish made under my name is a covenant created. In their case, it was written, albeit under the influenced."

"So you tricked these boys into this?"

"They are hardly boys, my dear."

"That does not make this-

"Glynda", the principal interjected, "Despite the method and intention, our lady here will relieve the students of their obligations once she is able to, **will you?** ", he turned to the Goddess.

"Of course, once they've gather sufficient followers, I will bring them home. They can start with helping us vanquish your new enemy."

"Excuse me, but who is this enemy you keep talking about?", Alma asked.

"I could hazard a guess", Bach said, "Is it Velka?"

"Yes, I've told the professors earlier today. Velka is a Goddess much like myself and the Pursuer you've face is one of her many minions. She had also allied herself with a group called the White Fang. The name should be familiar."

"That doesn't make much sense, she's a Goddess of Vengeance and Justice not furry terrorist", Bach commented.

"It is a long story. But to put it simply, past circles had pushed her to the extreme in the name of justice and the end of fire had driven her mad. Now, she seeks to create a world of her own, to rule and to punish."

"And why would you want to oppose her?", Eric asked.

"My dear, she is a great enemy but so will the people's love for me when she is vanquished", the Goddess opened her arms like a prophet talking to his flock.

This prospect of fighting war between Goddesses was not a good one in Eric's mind and it seemed like everyone else shared the same sentiment. However, the Goddess seemed to be confident in her triumph despite her comment on his and Bach's performance.

"Now that we all have a mutual understanding, miss Alma, your team may go back to class", Ozpin concluded, "The lady and I can discuss the capability of this Velka on our own time."

"Oh but there's more to this", the Goddess objected, "While I am unfamiliar with the terrorists. I believe the two young men have knowledge of White fang activities, something you might find quite valuable."

"Is this true?", the principal asked.

Eric looked at his friend wondering if they should tell them everything while the twins looked bewildered by the fact. After a bit of deliberation between them, Bach turned toward the waiting party.

"So…", he sounded irritated, "…since Velka is here, I don't know how reliable this will be so I'll only tell you the few things we're kinda sure of:

If there's a fight in team RWBY and Blake runs away, there's gonna be a huge dust robbery at the dock during the next two days, maybe. I don't know if they are still gonna do it.

Two of their agents, Mecury and Emerald are gonna be posing as exchange students from Haven, best keep an eye on them.

Cinder is going to break in and hack the CCTS system during the dance.

And they are gonna try to cause chaos during the Vytal Festival. They might disguise themselves as Haven students and use lots of grimm, I'm not sure how. But It's a distraction so that Cinder can become the Fall maiden."

"I'm pretty sure about the last one will still happen since big plans like that are hard to change but the rest are pretty iffy", Eric added, "I don't how the involvement of this Velka will change the plot but that is all."

"I see", Ozpin took a sip from his coffee, "We will act on this information. I won't ask how you got hold of it but I suggest keeping this between us. You may go now."

The team wordlessly moved out of the room. Eric could see that the twins had a lot more questions to ask them, questions that he hope they won't ask. Bach looked to be in quite the bad mood. They waited in silence as the elevator came closer.

"At least we know how to get you home, right?", Liz broke the silence.

"I wouldn't trust her that much", Bach grumbled.

"I know she tricked you guys, but at least, she seems to deliver on her promises."

"Yeah", Bach gave Eric a glance, "And her biggest worshipper stabbed a firekeeper to death and took her soul."

With a "Ding", the elevator door opens.


	14. Chapter 14: Cheat Code Activated

Thick shimmering fog hung in the air like a veil, hiding the red leaves of Emerald Forest. In some places where the crowns were thin enough, the sun would shine down in thin rays of light, bright enough to illuminate the surrounding but not enough to dispel the mist. Lisbet pressed through nonetheless, dashing between the trees as her eyes trained on the shimmering form of Eric's aura in the distance. Several tiny balls of light appear just to her side, making the faunus changed course hastily. She jumped behind the closest piece of cover as the lights hardened into bullets, zipping through the air and shredding the leaves around her.

With a hard kick against the trunk, Liz launched herself upward just quick enough to avoid a metal cage surrounding where she was. Landing on a large branch, she proceeded to move forwards through the forest upper level, avoiding obstacle put up by Eric. They weren't just crude rock wall and spikes anymore, instead, they were mixed with smaller chains and bars, not big enough to block the path but materialized fast enough to lead her to where he wanted. She dropped down between the branch to evade another hail of bullets that hit the woods around her. Over the week, he has gotten the idea of making moving projectiles, which were making it significantly harder for her to find a good opening.

Liz was glad that he'd improved but at the moment, she was mostly annoyed by the difficulties posed by his new tactics. She glanced up, contemplating about going above the treeline again but quickly dashed the thought away. Her head was still sore from hitting a metal bar Eric created, he was expecting her to do it and the fog wasn't making easier for her to find these hidden traps.

"If you can't go around them…", Liz notched an arrow, shifting the colour of the dust into to a bright red with her aura, "…go through them."

Her finger loosened and the arrow was launched towards Eric, piercing the fog as it went. It was stopped short by a tree, hidden in the mist. Her target was no doubt making the most of his environment.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE", Bach's voice blared through both of their ear pieces.

The thunderous boom of a broken sound barrier shook the air as a red lighting bolt sailed past Liz, tearing a paths through the mist as it went. With another explosion, Liz's arrow was vaporized along a with the tree, leaving a large clearing devoid of the mist as the shockwave has knocked them away. Eric was right before her eyes, wearing a pair of large goggles. She made a dash toward him, preparing another red arrow as she went. Eric ran back into the haze, leaving large barrier as he ran but Liz took her shot which followed shortly by another bolt of lighting, clearing the way. This repeated for the next few minutes until, Eric slipped up in his panic and the moment was right for her to line up the final shot. Liz held her breath as she felt the tension of on the bow rose.

"Tag!", Alma spoke through their communicators.

"Cooome oooon, sis! I almost got him", both the string and he arrow disintegrated as the bow dissemble into two curve blades.

"You can blame Bach for being lousy at hide and seek."

"Turns out giant lighting bolt aren't as subtle as I though, huh?", Bach sarcasm was not subtle.

With a shimmer, the mist surrounding the two disappeared and they can see the rest of the team far away, near the edge of Emerald Forest. Liz started strolling toward her sister.

"That makes it 3 to 1 in my favor", Eric joined by her side, the goggles now rested on his forehead.

"That's only because of big sis", she pouted, "and Bach is so bad at this."

"There's no mute button on the com, ya know", Bach whined through the ear piece, "And why do I only need to be tap to loose? Can't I just fight back."

"That still means you are engaged and can't provide support for your team anymore", Alma replied.

All four of them were closed to each other now and two goggles similar to Eric's were also resting on Alma's and Bach's forehead.

"And you'll probably get your ass kicked if anyone get close", Eric commented which made the team nodded and chuckled in agreement as they moved toward the Academy entrance.

"Oh", everyone but Bach, he gave a comical looked of a man being challenged, "I find your lack of faith disturbing, young padawans."

"Too be honest, your performances haven't really inspired much confidence…", Liz gave a smile, it resembled someone trying to let you down gently, "…and what's a padawan?"

"Look, I've done my training montage during the weeknights, you'll be surprised. And that's an obscure reference, don't worry about it."

"Well, we still have time for some sparring before dinner", Alma looked up from her scroll, "I doubt it'll be any difference from last Saturday though, it's only been like what, five days since I let out of the dorm at night."

"Oh, you're on. I'm a changed man now", Bach was strangely confidence about this.

"Okay, first, let's just go over the actual maneuver's this drill was designed for. Eric?", Alma said as she tapped the console to open the gate.

"I create the mist then move in with you to disrupt enemy formation", he recited.

"Liz?"

"I'll stay a short distance behind to snipe and mark targets."

"And I'll toss lighting bolt at red arrows with extreme prejudice", Bach made a mock throw, "Ya know, you kept saying that these things are too dangerous or I need to focus on my sword skill. What change?"

"It is still dangerous but…", she quickly told Liz to close the gate before turning back to the answer, "…this little maneuver is only for really tough opponents like the thing from last week and having you as the frontline doesn't really work if you suck."

"Again with the lack of faith."

"It's pretty good in theory", Eric interjected, "but wouldn't the quartermaster mind if we borrow these infrared goggles forever?"

"Well, anything in the armory is for us to borrow", Liz was twirling one her blade, "but he did say _If you break, you buy it_ …", she tried to imitate a raspy voice of the man.

"They're cheap enough to be cover with of mission bonuses, I'm more worry about what's in the future", Alma looked over her team as they ascend a flight of stairs, "That Goddess of yours said we'll be facing more things similar to that Pursuer…"

"Well If things gets too dicey, Eric can just make a really big bomb and I'll think of some inappropriate Muslim jokes."

"Oh my god…", Eric facepalmed.

"I'm serious here, Bach."

"Well me too, but just relax", he waved his hand, "Shit will be fine. It's not like we're the only Huntsmen and Huntresses."

"I wish we had your infinite optimism."

"Alcohol will give you something similar", the joke didn't sit well with anyone, "By the way, Eric, I thought you can't make anything last more than 5 mins. That's what she said."

"Right…you missed that discussion", he ignored the last part, "Liz came up with the idea. I just basically making cloud and dismissing them at the same time really fast."

"Cool."

"Though I feel really tired doing it though and this…", he unhooked his lantern and showed Bach the bonfire inside, smaller than it used to be, "…should I be worry about this?"

"Well shit, you should…why is it so small now? That's what she said", Bach looked genuinely worried.

"You just have to feed it…souls…right?", Liz asked.

"Yeah, theoretically…haven't actually done this before, though", Bach held up his right palm. After a moment, a small ball of white flame with a pitch black center appeared and he proceed to throw it in the fire, giving it a violent surge.

"Before you, ask, that's the concentrated souls of a living being", he said as a matter of fact, "In this case, a Deathstalker that spent most of its life staring at a wall."

"So that's what you meant by feeding he flame…", Liz said, "Feeling anything different Eric?"

"I actually feel kind of better…", his voice sound unsure.

"Does this mean we'll have to hunt Grimm regularly?", Alma looked like she is contemplating the problem.

"Well maybe, depends on Eric's usage. The thing is connected to his souls after all…"

"Well, more thing to plan for, I guess", Alma let out a sigh.

The quartet stopped before a large double that was supposed to lead to the Academy's gym. Sounds of other team practicing was coming from beyond. Alma turned to Bach and gave him a smirk.

"You know, last chance to bach out of this."

"Oh, stealing my pun now, huh?", Bach gave back a toothy grin.

"Don't complain that I hit too hard", she pushed the door open and went inside.

"You know I will", Bach followed suit.

"What got him so confidence?", Liz leaned toward Eric to ask the question.

"I don't know but seeing his ass getting kicked makes for good Friday entertainment."

"You two…"

* * *

The short dagger plunged to the ground in front of Alma's feet, piercing the metal floor as it knocked her tong fa back. Immediately from the side, a massive sweep by the Zweihander followed which barely missed as she jumped up and away. But Bach was already on her with a spinning leap through the air. She swung her right hand at him but her tong fa was again parried by the leading dagger which left her staring up at the massive blade that was crashing down. She rolled to the side and the sword cut deep into the metal with a screech, reverberating through the gym.

Alma rose to her feet and turned toward Bach. He was facing her in a low stance and the Zweihander already ripped free from the ground, by his side. With a quick lean to the side, she evaded a sword lunge and counter with two fast punch of her own. Bach parried the first with his dagger but was forced to rolled away from the second, putting a good amount of distance between them.

Alma brought her guard up again and was breathing hard out of her mouth. She was bewildered by what had been happening. If this was a week ago, he would have been running away in circles but for the past two minutes, Bach had been rushing her with a precise torrent of the dagger and sword. His use of the dagger to open up her defense was so methodical that it made her a bit frustrated, that and the shit eating grin he was giving her at the moment. She was determined to get close and wipe it off now.

Stomping her foot down, Alma leaped toward her opponent which to her delight, made him flinched a little. She swung her tong fa downward then followed by a knee aiming at his stomach which were both parried and evaded by Bach. Before he could bring the Zweihander to bear, she let loose a flurry of attack which was stating to overwhelm him. After receiving a punch to the chest, he managed to duck under a kick, rolled past her and started a swing that she could barely see from the corner of her eyes.

Twisting her body around, she parried the blade, letting it swing harmlessly to her right. But her eyes widen as her mind registered the weapon as neither the great sword or the dagger, it was an ornate curved blade. In split second, she was forced to defend against another similar one and then came a flurry of slashes from Bach, gradually pushing her back. With ever cut and stab, he was twisting, leaning and spinning along with the pair of sword as if he was performing some sort of strange dance.

* * *

"Huh, I don't remember Bach being that good…", Ruby commented as she walked up to Eric, Liz and other few who were watching the duel.

"Neither do we…", Liz answered, "…sis was even thinking about having Jaune as his new practice buddy since they both suck."

"Hey! I'm here you know…", Jaune responded, "…besides, I'm not too keen on being in the ring with him. Look at what he's doing to the ring", he pointed spots where the reinforced floor was cut and ripped apart by the Zweihander.

"He does have good arms…", Cardin's voice made the group jumped back in surprise, "What? I hate the guy but he earned my respect. He could probably beat Yang at arm wrestling."

"I'll take that bet", Yang respond with a cheery scoff.

"One thing though, Goodwitch is not going be happy with him breaking school property like that", Eric noted somberly.

"She probably won't be that angry, I saw her put a broken statue together before…", Ruby said embarrassingly, "…when I sorta kinda accidentally blow it up."

"Ah, he has finally learned how to put the strength of his souls to use", a gentle voice came from behind which prompted everyone to look back toward the seven feet tall beauty.

"Hi there…", Ruby greeted timidly.

"Please, call me Fina", her voice was like silk flowing between everyone's ears.

"What do you mean by using the strength of his souls?", Liz asked curiously.

"Memories and experiences of those he inherits…", she looked past them, toward the ring as Bach leaned back under Alma's swing, "…they guide his hands…", two upwards slashes disrupted the faunus's assault, "…his feet…", with an twist of his body, Alma's kick was evaded, "…and give him strength."

With a kick against her of tong fa, he sent Alma back across the ring, her shoes skidding against the floor. With a quick motion of his hands, the curved blades were tossed into his pocket in exchange for the massive Zweihander.

* * *

Bach reached out for the both his sword and the memories of the best great sword wielder in his head. The strange feeling under his skin came and he immediately rush forth, raising the Zweihander for an overhead swing. Just as he was about to bring down the blade, the gym disappeared and in place of Alma was a small girl in a torn grey dress. Her eyes steeled with both fear and defiance.

"P-p-please…", her voice high and shaking as a bleeding man laid motionless behind her, "…Please spare my him."

 _Fuck you, Pursuer_ , was all that went through his mind before a baton smacked against his head and everything spun back to reality.

* * *

"Ooooooooooooooooooh", everyone but Fina winced at the direct hit.

Alma immediately rushed to Bach's side who was now sprawled out on the practice ring.

"Are you okay? You just froze mid swing."

"Ow…", he sat up, rubbing the sore on his head, "...and you just hit me anyway?"

"Sorry, couldn't stop in time", she extended a hand, "What happened?"

"That's what I've been trying to figure out…", he took it and pull himself up, spotting the Goddess as he does, "Probably gonna have to ask Big Blonde over there later."

"I see…you might want to take a sip from your flask."

"Yeah, good idea", he reached for the bottomless box.

"When did you become-

"Awesome?", there's that annoying grin again.

"Yes, in a way", she said reluctantly.

"I'll tell you on the way back to the dorm."

"And I thought you are going to show off your awesomeness with a few more matches."

"Well, looks like Fina wants to talk and besides, I already did.", they both started walking out of the torn up ring.

* * *

Fina sat on Liz bunk and looked expectantly at team ABEL, who was sitting down in a semi-circle of chair facing her. The Goddess graceful and motherly looked made the scene similar to a mother telling her children a fairy tales.

"Since you want to speak in private…", Alma spoke first, "...I guess this about the talk on Monday?"

"Yes, Mr. Ozpin wanted to have your team updated on the situation since our meeting."

"I thought Goodwitch is the usual errand girl", Bach was slumping in his chair.

"She is currently busy with the reception of general Ironwood."

"Wait, THE Ironwood? From Atlas?", Liz exclaimed as she glanced out the window, at an airship in the distance.

"Yes", the goddess soft voice magically calmed the mood down, "The principal had station his Huntsmen at the location you listed during Monday and intends to request the general help in strengthen the security further."

"I see. Is there anything else?", Alma shifted lightly in her seat.

"No, that is all. He wanted to keep the interference with your education to a minimum and to keep his student safe", she smiled and look at Bach, "I find his concern unnecessary since one of my champion has finally learned understand the power of souls."

"About that…", Alma sounded a bit concerned, "…doesn't being temporary possessed have any negative effect?"

"I told you, it's not being possessed, more like remembering someone else memories…", Bach protested.

"That sounds kinda like a possession to me…", Liz commented.

"It sure does", Eric agreed.

"C'mon, Eric you're supposed to Bach me up, brah."

"Guys, let's just hear her explanation", Alma turned to the Goddess expectantly.

"It is more of an assimilation, my dear", she smiled, "The memories might be someone else but the mind is still his. However…"

"However?", Alma raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me, Bach. Why did you freeze during the duel?"

"Was going to ask you about this", he straighten up in his seat, "Whenever I try out the move set from the Pursuer, I kept getting these huge Vietnam Flashback. It's like he trying to screw with me from beyond the grave."

"Yes, I thought might be the case. Some the fallen might have very strong memories that might cause such symptoms", she contemplated for a moment, "I implore you to burn part of his soul to Eric's bonfire, erasing some of the memories away."

"I see, here's another question, why are there so many missing souls?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, except for the dancer, a couple of Havel soldiers, one of the Abyss watcher, the pontiff and like thousands of other random people, I can't seem to find any other souls of significance. Not even the cinder, which I'm sure I had at least one in my inventory."

"It is because I cannot give what I do not have, my Champion."

"Well, it's kinda hard to fight your war with a gimped loadout."

"It might not be as powerful as the Ashen one but you are not ' _gimped'_ , my dear", she smiled warmly, "Have you not been using Gwynn's Sunlight spears? Is this not the same strength that defeated the Souls of Cinder? And what is the Souls of Cinder if not a myriad of souls?"

"Well...", Bach found it hard to argue, "Beggar can't be chooser, I guess."

"Are there anymore question?", everyone shook their head, "Then I shall take my leave for now", the goddess promptly stood up and left.

As the door closed behind the Goddess, silence started to set in between them team members.

"So…", Eric held his lantern toward Bach, "…want to deal with it now?"

"Nah, I won't burn it."

"Why?"

"I find his memories pretty interesting and dad always said _The options people gives you won't be the only choices you have._ Besides, I never had the same flashback twice", he shrugged.

"So what? You think if you go through all his memories, you'll stop zoning out?", Alma crossed her arms.

"Yes, and the Pursuer isn't my only option for great sword…", his stomach rumbled, "…hmm…dinner?"

* * *

As Liz locked the door behind them, a black blur zipped past the team, followed by the voice of Weiss from further down the hall.

"Blake! Wait!"

"Well, shiet…", Bach muttered.

"I guess we know what's going to down this weekend", Eric added.

Alma looked at the two and remembered the list made by them during the meeting with the principal.

"Hey, sis, how about we go see the White Fang get busted by professional Huntsmen?", Liz was backup by the excited face of the others.

"I guess", she gave in, "There's going to be no more practice during the weekend anyway…"

"Wait, no more weekend sparring?", Bach asked.

"Well, we'll still spar for Saturday morning but you seem good enough for me to drop the rest."

"FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOM", Bach pump his fist in the air.

"Jeez, quiet down, Bach", Eric winced.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH", Nora responded with her own cheer from down the hall, "WHY ARE WE CHEERING?"


	15. Chapter 15: There was no Chicken

"Tell me something, Bach", Eric moved the spoon in circles as the sugar cube dissolved in his coffee.

"Wut?", Bach took a sip from his own drink.

They were filling two out of four seats at one of the many table in the terrace of a cafe, between them were four glasses filled with different kind of drinks. The place was quite crowded as the inhabitant of Vale enjoyed their lunch, read the news or waited for a date that would never show. Above them, the sun was shinning bright and hot which prompted the Bach to wear a dark blue short that was just a bit longer than his knees and a red t-shirt decorated with the large bold letters that said "PRAISE IT". Eric, on the other hand, still preferred one of his faded jean and a white polo with blue stripped.

"You sold alcohol to underage kids so you can buy more alcohol?"

"Ssshhh…", Bach held a finger to his lips and turned his head to take in their surrounding.

"Dude, it ain't exactly the thing to announced in public", Bach lower his voice to a whisper, "And Alma is going to toss me off the nearest sky scraper if she hears about this."

"Then you shouldn't have done it in the first place", Eric said accusingly, "And still, why are you selling booze to buy booze?"

"C'mon man, it's basic business", Bach slumped down in his chair, shoving one of his hand into the pocket of his brown short, "I sold booze for double the market price, then re-invest into alcohol with half of the money and the other half into my own entertainment."

"Which is also alcohol?"

"Oh but it's Alcohol from another dimension", he took another sip from the glass.

"And you're drinking at lunch."

" **Saturday** lunch", he corrected.

Eric sighed, "So how's alcohol from another dimension?"

"Too sweet, I don't like it."

"Isn't supposed to be a good thing if it tastes good?"

"Nah man, alcohol isn't some comfy ride to la la land. That's what's drugs are for", Bach leaned forward from his chair, "It's supposed to give you a boost for whatever you're intending to do."

"And it needs to taste bad because?"

"The bitterness reminds me that it's a temporary solution and I can't rely on it all the time", he stared at the half empty glass, "An advice that I never follow."

"Hmmm...", Eric shook his head lightly, "So, why are you drinking now?"

"The fact that I may never see my family again", he took a long swig, "And the massive hairball in the shower this morning."

"Urgh…", Eric cringed, "I saw that too."

"Do you think that's just normal hair or do they act like actual cats?'

"No! Don't ruin cat-girls for me, Bach", Eric tried to chase away the image of Liz coughing up a hairball, "Seriously, Please. Just. No."

"Hey", Alma interrupted.

The girls pulled out their respective chairs to take a seat. Alma was wearing a plain balck sleeveless and white denim short in response to the weather while her sister wore a short blue dress that matched her eyes.

"What are you two talking about? Sounds serious", Liz was as cheery as always.

"Nothing much, just trying to figure out why girls always go to the restroom together."

"Bach! You know better than to asked a lady that", Liz said with an exaggerated posh accent.

"You're about as ladylike as my sister", Bach scoffed which made Liz respond with a playful pout.

"So only a 5 more hours until nightfall, which is when the robbery supposes to happen", Alma tone was more serious but somewhat excited.

"You two are really looking forward to this, huh?", Eric noted the excitement.

"Yeah, mom was a huntress but other than her…", the older faunus admitted, smiling, "…we didn't get to see many huntsmen in action."

"It'll be even better if I get an autograph from a really famous one", Liz clasp her hand together, "Maybe Dominique Dead-eye will be there."

"Well, Huntsmen will be there for sure but…", Bach was scratching the back of his head, "…but I'm not sure the heist is even gonna happen. Velka might changes things around now that she's with the White Fang."

"They could still get autograph from the professionals.", Eric responded.

"Yeah, don't be such a party pooper", Liz chimed in.

"Still, there's 5 hours to kill…", Alma sucked on her straw.

"We could watch a movie...", Eric pointed to a cinema down the street.

"Cool."

"Why not."

"Sounds good."

"And are you seriously drinking at lunch", Alma finally asked as Bach knock back the rest of his drink.

" **Saturday** lunch", Bach shrugged, "It's the weekend."

* * *

"Why the hell would you make a four hours long movie?"

Team ABEL was making their way toward the dock after the movie which had left the team with polarizing opinions in term of its quality. As the sun set in the distance, they had been debating whether or not a romance between a Faunus and a human girl during the war was worth the money.

"What are you complaining about? You sleep through most of it", Eric responded.

"And woke up screaming too, just what kind of nightmare did you have?", Alma added.

"I thought I told you about the stuff I dream about. It's-

"Yes, memories of dead people that keep you from sleeping", Alma said in a monotone, "But we've only seen you wake up sweating in class not screaming in the middle of a good movie."

"Pfft… good movie…", Bach scoffed quietly, "If you want to know, it's the Pursuer final moments."

"The thing from the patrol?", Eric asked.

"Yeah, so it wasn't exactly the usual pleasant nightmare."

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask", Liz chimed in, "What is it? The pursuer, I mean since you can see it's memories…."

"Well, from what I got so far, he was a human and used to be a Blades of Darkmoon, Velka's Gestapo. He violated some major rules, got cursed and served as a Pursuer in order to atone for his sins."

"Wait, are you saying…", Eric exclaimed, "Oh my god, I actually murdered another man…", suddenly he wasn't feeling so well.

"Well…", Bach sucked the air through his teeth, "…more like a murderer cursed to be bound in a suit of armor to fight until someone put him out of his misery. You kinda did him a service there."

"That doesn't make it sound any better, Bach, I thought it was some kind of metal golem not an actual person."

"No…but it isn't as bad, right?", no one agreed.

"It's okay, Eric", Liz said reassuringly, "It was either him or us."

"Well, more it was either him along with me or you guys", Bach added.

"And you are awfully nonchalant about this", she turned to the other guy.

"Caused he's Bach and he's fucked".

"Dude, I got dead people in his head", the undead took offense to the comment, "Trust me when I said I don't feel any better than you do...but I guess got over it quicker than normal people would."

"Cause you're fucked…", Eric sighed, "…it's just better if I didn't know that he was actually a living person."

Eric's sentiment was shared by the team and they continued in silenced toward the dock. Each person was trying to came up with something to put the morbid thought away.

"You did ask", Bach mumbled.

"Well…", Alma broke the silence as they neared the entrance, "…we're are going to have to face more of them in the future, right? Is there other way other than just killing?"

"No, they may be alive and thinking but…", Bach search his mind, "…yeah, there's nothing we can do to help them. It's death or eternal killing for the poor sods."

"Well, let's just hope we don't have to do much of the killing."

"Yeah", everyone answered.

"Now, back to the matter of the robbery", she gazed at the jungle of steel container, "It's quiet."

"I guess it's just autograph for us then", Liz said with a bit of cheer in her voice.

"Well", Bach shrugged, "Velka probably change th-

He suddenly clammed up and signaled everyone to do the same.

"What is it?", Alma whispered.

"Someone just die."

"What?", Eric exclaimed which made Bach shushed him.

"Are you sure?", Alma asked.

"Yep, I just absorbed her soul."

The quartet shared a nod before Bach pulled out his wooden box from which they started pulling out their gears. Alma motioned for them to move quietly and they sneaked toward a stack of steel containers, making as little noise as they could. They stood against the metal and lined up behind the team leader as she peaked around the corner, taking full advantage of her faunus eyes in the dark. Six figures in white armored could be seen between the cargo. Amongst them was a tall person in long black cloak with a rather ornate helm that covered most of their face. In their right hand was a silver rapier, glinting under the moonlight. She could see the edge of a large opening further down, past the group.

"We need to get high", she whispered to he team.

"Dude, I sell booze, not weed."

"Jesus, Bach, we don't have time for this.", Eric whisper harshly.

"Pss…ladders", Liz shut them up and pointed at a ladder that led all the way to the top of a stack of containers across the path.

"Move when I move", Alma held up a hand.

Alma took a peek at the group of lookout again then dashed across the path when they weren't looking at her direction, her team following suit. They proceed the climb up the steps as quietly as possible, which forced Bach to stowed his Zweihander back into the box. The team proceed to move from stacks to stacks until they were on top of the last one before the open space. There, while lying prone on the edge of the container, they were able to get a clear view of the dock platform.

On the far side, in the middle of a larger concrete pier jutting into the sea, a dozen of faunus in white armor were loading wooden boxes on to a few bullheads with the White Fang insignia. Tied up next to a stack of boxes were six huntsmen and huntresses. Through their eyes, the twin could spot their injuries and Liz could see that the aura of two were fading fast. However, between them and team ABEL were a dozen Pursuers and several more figures in black garment similar to the first one Alma spotted. Their weapons were dripping with blood, making a trale leading to the bodies of dock workers, security guards and two Huntsmen. Some of them had clearly been eviscerated or subjected other gruesome death by the massive blades of the armored giants.

"Well shieeet...", Bach muttered as they pushed away from the edge, hidden from any sight, "So much for extra security."

"We need to contact the Academy", Alma ran her fingers through her hair, trying to stay calm, "They need to know and send people down here."

Liz peeked up and quickly took a picture with her scroll then send it to the authority with a message detailing the situation. Meanwhile, Eric and Bach was put on lookout as Alma kept on observing the situation below. As the criminals down below wnet on with their activity, one man stood out from the rest with his fancy white suit, bowler hat and a cane. He seemed to be leader as he appeared to be giving instructions to the rest.

"Sis", Liz tapped her sister on the shoulder and gave her the scroll.

"Pssh…huddle", Alma whispered, gathering the rest her team together.

As everyone gathered around her, she began, "As the message said, helps are coming and they want us to pull out", the news gave everyone a sense of relief, except the team leader.

Alma motioned her team to looked at the bound Huntsmen below, "They are coming in hot and I'm afraid the hostages might be killed when the fighting begins."

"Are you saying…", Eric swallowed his spit.

"Yes, we need to get them out before things get ugly."

"How are we going to do it?", Liz asked while Eric muffled his scream, "There's like an army down there, and we barely survive the one of those."

"That's why we need to come up with a plan…", Alma held up a hand to silence her team.

It was the most dangerous thing they've done so far but she was very committed to rescuing the captives below. Her eyes became focused on the steel between the team members as scenarios played out in her heads. However, after a few minutes, she couldn't find any plan that would work under the circumstance.

"Look, I understand your concerns but…", Liz spoke, "there's no way we can avoid all of them."

Alma looked at the worried face of her sister and Eric and let out a sighed. Maybe, it was too reckless to do so.

"No, not all of them but we can avoid most of them…", Bach, who was uncharacteristically quiet until not, finally spoke up, rubbing his chin as he did so.

"What?", everyone whispered back.

"I meant…", he pointed at the heavily armed group between them and the hostages, "I can 100% pull the aggro of all those Pursuers and Pardoners down there, and all you have to do is get through the White Fangs push overs."

"And how are you going to survive that?", Alma asked.

"Well, by not panicking and not forgetting all my abilities?", he shrugged with an awkward smile , "Look…I can return to Eric's bonfire instantly if I need to and I don't stay dead, remember?"

"You sure you can do it."

"Yes, I have ways, I think."

"And the White Fangs?", Liz asked.

"Well, they aren't that dangerous, one person from RWBY can beat them up easily…", Eric answered.

Alma put her hand to her chin for and bit then began, "Okay, if that's how we play it then here's the plan…"

* * *

The Pardoner's dark cloak pressed against the leather underneath as the wind raced toward the ocean. Her eyes ever vigilantly scanned the dock, both trying to find any possible interlopers and take in the sights of this foreign land surrounding her. It was so full of strange, so full of life and most of all, free of the suffocating darkness that had swallowed her world. She adjusted her grip on the silver sword as she heard footstep and the metallic clicks of a cane fro behind.

"You lot don't talk much, do you?", the man called Roman came up next to her, his voice full of confidence.

She remained silence in her duty.

"C'mon, we're allies, relax a little, it'll do wonder for your beauty", he was sounding smoother now.

"If you desire company, your lackeys would be more than happy to", She turned away and began to walk away, "We have no inclination to waste our breath."

She could her the click of his tongue from behind and hope that her answer would shoot down his effort. As she returned to her vigilance, her vision gradually worsened by a screen of thick fog rolling in along with the wind. Soon, she could barely see an inch before her eyes and sound of collision could be heard in the direction of the thugs handling the cargo boxes. She cursed mentally as this freak weather would complicate the situation further and the local authority would be here eventually.

Suddenly, thunder roared as a golden glow zipped through the fog somewhere to her right and an explosion erupted by the end of its path. Sound of Rock and metal being tossed about could barely be heard after the deafening boom.

"-e hit!", her comrade cried out from somewhere in the fog, "Aegon is hit! We're under attack."

The news of a Pursuer being hit spun her mind into focus, trying to find the source of the attack. Another thunder clap shook the air and soon another Pursuer was reported wounded, their heavy frame too slow to avoid the attack. Once again as confusion set in upon her new allies, thunder roared and this time, she could see the flash of light heading straight at her. She sidestepped and brought up her cloak to shield herself as the debris was flung in all direction. She could easily recognize the lighting spear from its appearance to the ozone smell that filled the air. It has also cut a path through the thick fog and she could clearly see the assailant from atop of a stack of giant steel boxes, wearing large google over his eyes.

Fina champion was here to face them and she would relish in this opportunity to break him and so would all her comrades. She lowered her stance, raise her silver sword and stood ready for another attack. However, the undead didn't prime another spear instead, he proceeded to kneel into a prayer. As the dark purple vapor swirled and formed around his body, she could feel the dark humanity within her soul boiled with rage. As he rose to his feet, she recognized the miracle and realized the intention but it was too late.

"LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROYYYYYYYYYY JEEEEEEEEEENKIIIIIIINS!"

His final bellow sent her mind into a black rage and she rushed forward along with every single Pardoners and Pursuers in the vicinity.


	16. Chapter 16: The Forgotten Waifu

Liz's arrow pierced the fog and knock out another White Fang thug with a small explosion to his face. While pulling back the bowstring, she mentally thanked Bach for the general confusion at the moment. The terrorists were too occupied with understanding their allies' sudden departure to notice themselves being picked off through the fog. This made it unbelievably easy for the rest of the rest of ABEL to approach the hostages from the side, knocking out the occasional look outs who wandered near their path.

"It's okay…we're here to help", Alma begin to untied the Huntsmen from the crates a soon as they got close while her twin kept an eye out.

Nearby, streams of light slowly coiled into the shape of a pickup truck as Eric worked his magic, trying his best to maintain their fog cover at the same time. After a minute, the vehicle was finished and he started carrying the hostages into the back off the truck along with Alma. The lantern was also place in the back to heal the injured as well.

"What are you looking at me for?", a voice was heard somewhere beyond the fog, "Go check on the hostages!"

This prompted Liz to also help out with the rescue process. The team was just fast enough that by the time the White Fang got into view, everyone was on the back of the truck and Eric was turning the ignition key. The engine roared to life and Eric floored the gas pedal, knocking Liz off balance and turning her shot to just a graze on a dumbfounded thug. The noise alerted everyone of their position and an angry mob of robbers in white armors was forming up behind them. Some tried to intercept them from the side using the fog as cover but they were quickly dispatched by the twins, the infrared googles were proving to be very helpful.

"We're getting to the gate right now!", Alma called through her communicator.

"Got it!", Bach yelled back, "Just get out quickly, these fuckers are very angr-SHIET! Just be quick!"

"Floor it, Eric!", she slammed her fist on the steel panel behind the driver's seat.

"I'm trying!", Eric was trying his best to not crash into one of the steel containers.

During the run, one of the huntsmen began tugging weakly at Alma shirt, his wounds had healed but his strength remained sapped. The faunus leaned down to listen to his whispers, barely audible above the commotion around them.

"We…couldn't…see…her", he gasped which make Alma pulled away and looked back in confusion.

Eric frantically turned the wheel and barely avoided an idle forklift, making the truck swivel briefly. Even with the infrared goggles, going fast inside the fog was still quite difficult especially with a mob out for their blood. However, he was quite confident that they would soon outrun the White Fang with the current speed.

Suddenly in front of his eyes, a horizontal line of glittering purple light surged forth from thin air and slammed through the grill, taking out the front wheels from right under him. The truck flipped through the air, tossing out everyone in the back while trapping the unfortunate driver inside as it crashed and rolled for a few more meters before stopping in an upside down position. Consciousness drifted away from Eric along with the fog that had been sheltering their daring rescue.

As Alma and Liz struggled to their feet, an imposing beauty in white materialize before them under the broken moon. Her slender face held an ethereal beauty to it with skins as pale as snow. Surrounding her piercing blue eyes were small ivory scales forming along her violet brows and eyelashes. Coming out from under the flowing brown hair were several thin tentacles that shared the shade of her eyebrows. Also under the long loose sleeveless dress were bare feet and a very fluffy tail. However, despite her slender form, she was anything but frail with an imposing height that rivals a giant and the thin long sword by her side, glimmering with a layer of purple magic.

"Thou shan't escape with her prisoners", her voice was like a melancholic melody echoing through the air.

* * *

"I REGRET EVERYTHING!", Bach tossed a fireball over his shoulder just before rounding a corner.

It exploded but made little to no damage to his pursuers which made him cursed the change in pyromancy damage scaling since Dark Souls 2. In response, a couple lighting spears, fireballs and a plethora of dark humanity orbs were launched back at him. Invoking the souls of dead thieves and rogues, Bach narrowly avoid most of the attack except one fireball, which singed him to the spine and sent him howling forward.

"Since when the FUCK can NPCs do this shit!?", he yelled back while turning right at the end of the path.

The chase had been going on for almost three minutes and the pardoners turned out to be even more lethal than their fellow Pursuers. Sorceries, miracles, pyromancies and even hexes were all fair play which made Bach chug his Estus faster than his whiskey after a midterm. Although, he noticed their miracles were significantly weaker than his, lighting spears left only scorch marks and the smell of ozone, where as his would certainly tear up concrete or blast through the steel. This made him clutch the metal charm on his right and start chanting.

 _Bring me food for an army_

 _Steed of bronze_

 _Arms and armors of steel_

 _And I shall be the harbinger of thy foes!_

His last word rang through the air and pillars of light feel from the sky, smashing the shipping container that surrounded the path along with a few unfortunate Pardoners and Pursuers who weren't quick enough. Of the several of pardoners who decided to follow him from atop the containers, one was compelled by the miracle to leap down at him with a plunging attack. Catching the assailant from the corner of his eyes, Bach let the souls of a duelist twist his body and bat the rapier aside with his own broadsword. Knocked off balance, the Velka follower crashed into the side of the path and was facing up the tip of Bach's sword. But he kept running and she soon rejoin chase again.

"We're getting to the gate right now!", he heard Alma voice through the ear peice.

"Got it! Just get out quickly, these fuckers are very angr-SHIET!", his heart dropped as he had just turn into a dead end, a spacious one but a dead end still, "Just be quick!"

Bach turned back to the angry ground of armored and dangerous people who was surrounding him from both on top and below the shipping containers. He was sure the Atonement miracles had worn off ages ago but the eyes of the few he could see were filed with rage. He could feel his mouth drying up with dread, his palm sweaty, his knees weak and he was thankful that lunch didn't include any spaghetti. With a hard swallow, the grip on his sword hilt was tighten and a kite shield was pulled out and raised up with his left hand from the bottomless box.

"So this foolish coward is Fina little Champion?", the nearest pardoner spoke, whom Bach swore he had wounded with one of his lighting spears, "She'll have a hard time picking another after we break you", she laughed.

With a wave of her hand, the mass moved forward with weapons raised and their target did the same.

Bach deflected a rapier as he stabbed forward with his sword then twisted it to parry a blade and swung his left arm again to bashed a couple of pardoners. A massive blade thrusted forward and collided with the barely raised shield, pushing him back to a skidding halt. Bach rolled forward again under several sword cuts and stabs, swiping low at one of their legs but missing. Instead, his shield received more blows at the same time and he proceed to barely parry another cut from a Pursuer. The undead decided to rushed between a couple of Pursuers, narrowly avoiding a few other attacks and slamming his shield into a pardoner in the back. Pinning the man down under the shield with his strength, the knight souls in Bach raised his sword up for a stab then immediately froze in the moment.

A grimm was a beast and the Pursuer, like Eric wanted, could easily be seen as an unfeeling golem with no feeling, but right now, he was staring down at another man. Bach might have died, threw miracles at the person from afar but murdering someone up close and personal was still unsettling. His thought was cut short by a shield bash to the head that sent him crashing against one of the steel container, dropping the kite shield in the process.

"Look at that, my brothers and sisters! Mercy!", the pardoner got back to his feet laughing and others joined him in the hysteria.

As Bach crawled to his feet, he desperately listened to comm against in hope of Alma signal but all he heard was deafening silence, not even the sound of ambience.

"Let's show him the mercy of Velka!", the mob rushed forth, baring their blade and this time, magic and miracles accompanied them.

Bach pushed himself forward again under the barrage of projectile, his left already pulling out another sword from the wooden box in his pocket. And he danced into the fray.

Metal screech as blades met and blows were parried. The dancer of boreal valley twisted his body between the blades of Velka followers and guide his hand toward his targets. The more they struck at him, the more he slipped through in a mesmerizing dance of steel. The sound of their sword against his and his against theirs became the melody of his dance. However, Bach wasn't making any progress either. Every slash was blocked, parried, or batted away by the numerous assailant covering for each other. Every blow struck against a Pursuer, simply slide off their thick armor and the thought of cutting down a living person made him queasy. In addition, their attempts to strike him down were like an unending stream of steel and hate upon a falling leaf.

Gradually, lighting spears, soul arrows and other kind of magicall projectiles started bearing down on him on top of the constant clash of steel. Bach parried two different attack with his swords and spun to the side of a soul spear, moving toward a Pursuers. Batting away another rapier, he stabbed the armored giant in the gap below its armpit and was forced to rolled back by a burst of dark humanity. As he got back on his feet, a lighting spear tore through his chest and his breath went along with it. Staggering to one knee, he was looking at several giants and human charging forth with murder in their eyes.

 _Let your arrow fly_

 _AND I SHALL FIGHT IN THE SHADE!_

Deafening sound wave from his metal charm blasted them away and disoriented most of the nearby assailants. For a brief moment, silent and peace seemed reign in the gap between him and Velka's minions. But as soon as Bach got up to his feet, a massive blade of a Pursuer ripped through him in one swing and a fireblast launched him against the side of a steel container.

In a dazed, he slumped on the ground, leaning against the bent metal behind his back, and looked at a pool of his own blood. The gaping wound ran from the left waist to his right shoulder and the sting felt excruciating but unreal at them same time. It left him in a shock and gasping for air.

"What's the matter, Unkindled?", the pardoner's words were seething with hateful glee.

"Go on, drink your beloved estus. The night is still young"

"We're are going to take our time with you", they were laughing at his suffering now.

At that moment, while looking at Velka's followers surrounding him, Bach suddenly felt something that made his mind snapped out of the daze. It wasn't fear, anger nor the longing for atonement that the dead pursuer in his head often called for. Even the pain he was feeling was being washed away as he scanned the faces surrounding him.

Bach felt nostalgia. Exhilarating. Nostalgia.

* * *

Alma brought her tong fa up just in time to block a sword swing that almost strained her aura to the limit, threatening split the Red Guards in half. She jumped to the side to avoid the vertical follow up and the ground where she had stood was sliced up like butter. The faunus proceed to holler and a hail of dust arrows was let loose by her sister. However, the giantess simply disappeared with twirl, leaving behind on petal of snow for the arrow to pierce through.

"Liz!", with the goggles broken in the crash, Alma had to rely on her sister semblance to find the invisible assailant.

"4 O'clock!", her twin answered.

Liz jumped away from the slash as it materialized in a glimmer of purple magic, readying her arrows as she did. Her sister had already turned back and was rushing at the giant who was coming out of the invisibility. Alma threw several of fiery punch with the short end of her tong fa but all missed as the woman seemingly glided between the blows. Her retaliation was a swift sword stroke that batted away incoming arrows and cut Alma right in the mid section. She was thrown back like a rag doll, clutching broken ribs as her aura was being pushed to the limit.

Seeing her sister being wounded, Liz leapt at the woman with her bows transforming into a pair of curved blades, putting herself between the two. Her flurry was easily dodged and parried by the elegant movements of the woman in white, drifting between the blade with each spin and bend. The melodic voice rang out again and a burst of purple energy burst from the charm on the giantess right arm, sending Liz sprawling next to her sister.

The twin stumbled back to their feet as fast as possible, but they were feeling their aura depleting along with their hope of coming out in one piece.

"Surrender the prisoners and thou shall be spared", the giantess spoke again with a soft voice, "My allies shall be here soon and thou hath neither the skill of strength to escape with them."

It wasn't a bluff as Alma can see the White Fang coming up from behind the woman, the fight had stalled them for too long.

"I'm not abandoning anyone, sis", Liz's voice was filled with determination.

Alma looked at unconscious form of Eric and the huntsmen near the truck then turned to her twin with a grim expression.

"No, we won't", she spat at the giantess.

"Very well, I shall honour thy wish", the woman held her sword in front of her face in a salute then rushed forward.

The twin steeled themselves for the onslaught then suddenly a boy rushed forth from behind and broke the charged with a wide swing of his staff. A black blur appeared right after and proceed to forced back the surprised woman with a flurry of slashes.

"Heard you guys needed some help", the boy, who turned out to be a monkey faunus, gave them a brief smile and a thump up before rejoin the assault with Blake.

Blake capitalized the giantess's confusion with her doppelgangers to allow hers and the boy to launched an onslaught of rapid attacks with their dagger and staff. As the twin immediately joined the fray, the woman forced to be on the defensive, almost exclusively dodging and parrying with little to no retaliation. However, at that moment, the White Fang and their acting leader, Roman, caught up with the group, threatening to turn the tide once again. With that threat, the four youngster reluctantly jumped back, putting distance between them and the mob.

"Well, well, well…", Roman twirl his cane as he strolled pass the giantess, "What have we h-

Laser beams came forth from behind the four huntsmen in training, creating explosion that tossed several White Fang warrior through the air and staggered Roman along with the giantess.

"Penny, at your service!", the cheery voice made the group turned back.

Behind them and besides a plethora of floating-laser-shooting giant blades were a girl in green, and white who they presumed to be Penny, and the Ruby Rose in her signature red cloak. The 15 years old girl was waving and yelling her greeting at them as her friend continues to bombard the criminals with high power energy beam.

"I don't know about you, milady", Roman called to his giant partner amidst the explosions, "But this place is getting too crowded."

But just as he started to back up, golden light sprung up around him and the White Fangs and solidified into a concave of rock walls, blocking their retreat. Eric was awake, still stuck in the truck but a wake, nonetheless.

"COME ONE!", Roman yelled out in frustration as he was trapped along with the mob.

However, in contrast to his outburst, the giant woman simply knelt down on one knee and held her chime up in a prayer.

 _O' fallen lords of the Dark Sun_

 _Take me under thine shadow_

 _And judge me for all that I am_

 _For my sins and my virtues_

 _For my life and my death_

 _And if thou find me worthy_

 _Grant me thine Peace and Tranquility_

Her words reverberated outward in sphere, washing over everyone, blasting away the walls made by Eric along with the aura of all in the vicinity, pushing all of it back into their soul. Even Penny's blades fell to the ground lifelessly. All that was left behind was silence. No words, no footstep, not even a person's own breath could be heard. It was like all sound was pushed away by her last words, leaving everyone with nothing but the deadly silence.

The woman in white strode forward toward the group of young huntsmen with uncanny steps. Her blade, pointed slightly away from her side, was gleaming under the moonlight as the magic surrounding it was now gone. She looked more dangerous than ever now that everyone was unable to use their aura, crippling both friends and foes alike.

Suddenly, she dashed toward Blake with an upward swing. Without her aura, the faunus was too slow to do anything but squeeze her eyes shut. But instead of the blade, she was hit by the monkey boy's body, and thrown her onto to her back along with him. He had jumped in front of her with his staff raised but the blade cut through his weapon like butter and he was now lying on top of the girl, severely wounded. Everyone else was frozen in their feet. For the first time ever, they were without the aura to fight the giant threat looming over them. The giant woman raised her sword again then thunder roared from the sky.

The boom of thunder shattered the silence like glass, allowing all sounds to rushed back in and leaving everyone ringing in their ears. As all combatant look to the source, they saw a massive hole in the sky as clouds was pushed back in a circle. And in the middle of that breach in heaven, crimson lighting was starting to rain down from what could only be described as a miniature sun.


	17. Chapter 17: Poetic FUBAR

As he sat there with his back against the steel shipping container, Bach stared blankly at a random spot between the disciples of Velka surrounding him. The pain from his wound was pushed to the back of his mind as he tried make sense of the intense nostalgia that was invigorating his body. Unlike foreign memories from the souls he held, this felt as if he had faced the followers before, in greater number, and also alone. However, it was all just a feeling and no matter how hard he clawed at it, there was no voice nor image to show him, only pieces like a tattered tapestry of souls. He kept trying, nonetheless, as the blood started pooling beneath his body and his eyes became unfocused.

"Hey, are you still with us, unkindled?", one of the pardoners strolled forward but he gave her no attention.

She stopped right in front of him and looked down to his eyes which were still staring straight forward, beyond the woman. In an attempt to get his attention, her rapier was waved back and forth in front of his face to no avail.

"I think this one already broken", the glee in her voice was filled with a tinge of disappointment.

"Put him out of his misery", one of her brethren answered, "We've wasted enough time and the captain awaits."

"Very well…", she pointed the rapier at the Unkindled's neck and plunged it down.

Suddenly, in split seconds, Bach pushed the blade aside with his left hand while stabbing the surprised woman with a dagger in his right, the motions were strangely smooth and fast with no awkwardness. His eyes had already snapped to focus on the surprised pardoners who was gasping at the wound in her stomach. Before she could pull away, Bach grabbed her by the sword arm with his undead strength and stood up quickly. He felt no queasiness this time, whatever was taking over his mind was replacing his reservation on killing with a sense of routine as if this was a daily occurence. As she struggled, his eyes slowly moved from hers to her comrades standing further away.

"There…were more of you before…", his voiced like a whisper as he pulled the dagger upward in one quick motion.

The blade ran up from her navel, slowing down briefly as it raked through the ribcage before stopping just below the chin. He let go of the hilt and she crumbled to the ground, choking in a heap of blood that meld with his. While the rest of Velka's minions stood stunned by the display, Bach slowly drew the Zweihander from the bottomless box. As he did so, he noticed the small embers flickering on the edge of his gaping wound and the fringe of his clothes. The sight was both intriguing and familiar but he paid it no mind as the woman's death seemed to unlock more of the strange memories with a piece of her soul.

"...ashes…there was ashes and the sky was raining…something?', he mumbled and looked toward the Velka's followers, who were now ready to pounce.

His eyes moved back to the dead body at his feet for a short moment then he began a short chant to draw out the strength of the souls within.

 _Let the sun shines upon this Lord of Cinder_

The Zweihander crackled to life with the golden sparks of the Sunlight Blade and Bach raised it parallel to his eyes, pointing the tip forward in a challenge. The Pardoners accepted and charged in along with their fellow Pursuers as magical projectiles followed from above.

With a practiced motion, Bach parried the nearest blades with a twist of his sword and turned it into a wide horizontal sweep across the charging mass. Like a knife through butter, the enhanced Zweihander cleaved through the ranks of Velka's follower and their weapons, splitting one unlucky pardoner in half. Their retaliations were swiftly dodge as Bach's turned his body with the spin of his blade as he performed another massive cut across.

He was steadily moving forward in a sweeping advance. Even the Pursuers, armed with their massive swords and shields, were pushed back by the Zweihander, backed by his Undead strength. The wide swings also gave Bach some limited protection against incomings projectile as numerous sorceries, miracles and pyromancies were parried or simply explodes mid air when colliding with the Sunlight Blade. In the middle of this, Bach was perplexed by the familiarity as every cut felt practiced and routine accompanied by none of foreign sensation under his skin nor the aversion when his blade tore flesh asunder. Yet, he has no recollection of these except for the miniscule pieces he recovered from every fallen foe.

Spotting a Pursuer charging forward, he instinctively brought the Zweihander down for a cut toward its shoulder. Enhanced by the miracle, the blade cleaved through the pauldron and went all the way down to the giant's mid section. It instantly let go of both the massive sword and shield to grab the crackling great sword. Recognizing the intent, Bach pushed the sword downward with all his might and proceed to cleave the armored giant in half. He converted the movement into an upward swing to ward the foes rushing at him from behind. The action managed to wound a few more of the pardoners but the delay by the Pursuer was long enough for several soul arrow to impact.

"Fucking gank squad…", he gritted his teeth and started another chant.

 _O Shield Maidens of Death_

 _Carry me not on your steeds_

 _For my time in the hall of Valor_

 _Is yet to come._

He pushed on again as the miracle mended his wounds as fast as it could. But seeing his momentary struggle, some of the disciples of Velka redoubled their effort and clashed against his whirlwind of steel while others chant their own miracle to support their brethren. Metal screeched as steel clashed while different magic and miracles wrecked havoc on the surrounding, scorching the concrete ground and tearing apart the steel shipping containers. At times, Bach casted his own pyromancies to create space for his lengthier miracles, which proved to be devastating to those unfortunate enough to be struck by them. It became a battle of attrition with Bach trying to whittle down the opposition numbers before they exhaust his strength and miracles.

During this chaotic clash, the images for his strange nostalgia were trickling in with every soul from the foe he cut down. And with another follower of raven struck down by his disk of light, the images were just enough for him to see something amazing.

 _The shepherd asked_

 _And the Lord will answer_

 _The shepherd called_

 _And the sea will give._

His voice boomed and the soundwave blasted a path between the mass just wide enough for him to rush through. The Raven's disciples proceed to gave chase.

"We're not done with you yet, coward!", the holler was one of the many hurled at his back.

"…ashes and blood…", he mumbled as he ran, "…the sky was pitch black and it was raining but there was no water…"

He shoved the Zweihander back in the box and started a chant for something never new yet familiar at the same time.

 _O Lady of Night_

 _Come unto me_

 _Release me from reality_

 _And fulfill my fantasy_

He felt the strength of souls, thousands of them, surged through his body as he ran and kept on chanting.

 _O Lady of Night_

 _Come unto me_

 _Giving me your affection_

 _And release me from isolation_

He could hear thousands of voices cried out in unison only to be silenced and burned away, leaving behind a void where they had once occupied.

 _O Lady of Night_

 _Come unto me_

 _Give me your love_

 _And I'll make it rain._

The crimson bolt of lighting exploded to life between his fingers, shaking as if it was trying to escape his grip. With it, Bach turned around, cocking his right hand back and threw the bolt.

The disciples were ready for it this time. They move out of the way and proceed to lunge at him. The swords came through, one managed to skewer his right arm and pinned it against his body. Bach was barely able to stand, propped up to his feet by the pardoners and their blades embedded through his chest and stomach.

"Die, you cur", one of them spoke, her voice filled with frustration.

"Aghkf…fookin…pfft…'ell", Bach coughed and pointed a shaking finger toward the sky, "…P-praise it…fuckers..."

All of Velka's disciples looked to the direction he was pointing at and their eyes widened with panic. The crimson lighting bolted had curved its way up toward the sky and upon touching the clouds, broke the sound barrier in a blinding explosion. What was left behind was giant hold in the cloud and a crimson ball of lighting which began to rain down massive crimson sunlight spears. As if ordered by Velka herself, the disciples scattered at once and left Bach crumbling to his knees. He looked up at his handy work and realized that this was going to cost someone a lot of money.

"Well shiet…", he croaked just as devastation rain down on the dock.

Under the deafening barrage of thunder and lighting, containers were ripped apart, their steel shell blasted away like shrapnel. The concrete where they stood joined the flight as every bolt tore up the surface in jarring explosions. Velka's minions would find no solace from this rain and one by one, they were shredded to piece by either the Crimson bolts or the debris created. And kneeling in the eye of the storm, Bach felt almost serene, humming a tune so that his miracle would heal his wounds while the pandemonium seemed to avoid him.

 _Well you can't get what you want_

 _But you can get me_

 _So let's set out to sea_

 _'Cause you are my medicine_

 _When you're close to me_

Just as the holy light patched up the last of his wounds, the rain dissipated along with the crimson sun above. With a wobble, Bach stood up and squint his eyes in an attempt to peer through the dust and asses the carnage left behind. It reminded him of the war documentary from the old History Channel, filled with torn up landscape, blown out husk of steel and chunks of dead bodies. Amongst mounds, he could spot bleeding orbs of emerald fire slowly being drawn toward him. He turned his attention away from the ruined dock and looked at the drench remnant of his shirt.

"At least, I'm already wearing red to day...", he sighed just as he heard loud caws in the air.

After a few second of scrutiny at the sky, he recognized the giant crows bearing down from above the sea. Whether it was reinforcement or something else for his enemy, he wasn't eager to find out and proceeded to pull out a small bone from his bottomless box.

"I'm out", exhausted, he spat and broke the small bone in half.

* * *

After what'd seemed to be an eternity, Alma finally gasped for air and almost choked by the dust that filled her throat. Her arms, however, was still clutching Liz in a vice grip, frozen by the fear for her sister life. For the past few minutes, she had witnessed something right out of Oobleck's lectures on the great war, rains of pure devastation that left her surrounding in a smoking husk of steel, concrete and gore. But it had disappeared as suddenly as it'd came, leaving behind such an oppressing silence that she could hear every beat of her own heart.

Feeling her sister struggling between her arms, she finally let go of Liz and gave her a reassuring nod. The twins slowly stood up to their feet and took in the scenery as the dust gradually settled down. They finally noticed a thick metal wall standing next to the in a slanted angle and other similar pieces next to their friends. Liz turned toward a wheezing Eric, feeling thankful for his vigilance while Alma notice something peculiar from the ruin, there was no sign of impact near her or any of her friends.

However, something else amongst the scenery made twins and all other youngsters froze up. Standing tall before them was the giant woman in white, her right arm was holding up some kind of magical barrier flowing out from a chime. Her left arm and dress were slightly singed but the barrier did the job off protecting her and Roman Torchwick who was hugging her tail. The rest of the White Fang weren't very fortunate as their body was strewn about in a pattern that suggest they were running toward her for protection.

The woman turned toward the students which made them tensed up immediately, Blake even jumped in front of the injured monkey boy. However, her steely gaze was beyond them as if searching for someone else and in a puff of ash, the object of her search appeared next to Eric.

"Guys…if anyone ask…", Bach was breathing hard and Alma could see that he was in a bloody and haggard state, "I…didn't doooo- Why the fuck…are we still…inside the DOCK?"

He spun around to take in his surround just in time to see a silver sword pointed at his face. His eyes traced the blade upward and widened.

"Yorshka?", he took a glance at weary friends and sighed loudly at the knight captain, "I'm really not up for round two right now", dragging his words and reaching for his weapons as he spoke.

Unexpectedly, the Darkmoon captain lowered her sword and gave him a brief smile, "I see that he doth lives on in within thine soul…", she turned and began walking away, "I can only hope that thou shall remember his story before tis to late."

Before, anyone could ask, enormous ravens descent and whisked her away along with the few survivors of the White Fang. In the distant, others were also carrying the dust shipments under their colossal wings. With the enemy departed, the youngsters were left with an uneasy relief.

* * *

It took a while for the Academy staff and the recently arrive Atlesian to arrive but fortunately, Eric's lantern managed to patch everyone up nicely before the belated help arrived. Professor Goodwitch was abhorred by the damaged done to the dock and even more so by the source of this scene. However, the initial surprise was soon turn to relief that her students didn't share the fate of a few less fortunate huntsmen who had fallen before team ABEL arrived. The professor quickly assigned a bullhead to take the youngsters to the Academy while Penny went in a Atlesian transport back to her father. After her duty as a teacher as done, she finally joined local authority in investigating and repairing the place. The young huntsmen and huntresses, including Weiss and Yang who'd arrived along with reinforcement, filled up the vehicle nicely and the pilot started their trip back to some R&R.

As team RWBY reconciled their various differences on one side of the metal box, Bach was slumping in a corner and fumbling with a small bottle of whiskey, his finger too tired and uncoordinated to open the cap properly.

"Hey Bach", Eric asked tiredly, "Need help with that?"

"I don't know, man…", Bach breathed out slowly as if the all the air was leaving his haggard form, "Just…feeling kind a weary…so much…peace…and…qui…", and he feeling began snoring very loudly.

"At least he looks like he deserves the rest", Eric glanced at the tattered shirt and shrugged, "We all deserves some", he leaned back on his seat.

"Not with Vale's loudest sawmill next to my ears", the monkey boy's, who introduced himself as Sun, comment incited a series of chuckles.

"Well, let's just hope he doesn't wake up screaming before we get back to the Academy", Liz chimed in.

"Yeah…", Alma said absentmindedly as the event was still occupying her mind.

Before boarding the transport, an seemingly exhausted Bach had admitted that the lightings was a screw up from his part. She wasn't really surprised but this needed some work before something very regrettable happens. However, what specially troubled her was the giant called Yorshka. The prospect of facing her again was worrying and Alma was even more puzzled by her words and actions before leaving. This had raised a few ques-

A very loud snores and rattle startled Alma, cutting her train of thought which drew laughs amongst the bullhead occupants.

"Oh dust…", she glanced annoyingly at the heap on the floored that was called Bach, "Could someone just block his nose or something?"


	18. Chapter 18: 14 plus 1

Bach had never been a watch-wearing guy but one would've quite handy at the moment since he'd been sitting in this dream staring at nothing for god knows how long. Well, there was something, a patch of land covered in grey ashes and a tiny ember flickering at its center. Beyond that small island of ash, however, was nothing but blank white space, there wasn't even a horizon to look at.

" _Either someone didn't remember much or my brain is this empty"_ , Bach thought, suspecting that the later might be more plausible.

However, the dream sequence wasn't as bad as it should've been. In fact, this is quite serene. Usually, whenever his eyes gave up and he fell asleep, he'd relive a random memory from the souls given by Fina and wake up when the action became too intense. In this dream, however, Bach felt like he could let his body get some decent shut-eye for a while. Thus, he's been content on just sitting around doing nothing so far but it was getting boring and he'd always been a restless guy.

He eventually turned his eyes toward the only other object of note in his empty dream, the flickering ember floating mid-air. For some reason, he felt a warm sense of familiarity from just looking at the thing, it was as if the flame was some old friends or relative that he hadn't for a long time. Curious, he decided get closer for a better look.

As he got closer, he somehow could feel whatever the flame was feeling, every ebb and every flicker and every breath of air threating to snuff it out. But most notably, it was weary and exhausted as if it has been burning for too long and was now starving for kindling. Bach knew exactly what it was craving for but he was still wondering if feeding the flame is a good idea or not. He willed an ethereal clump of white souls to his palm and felt the flame's craving intensified as he did so.

"Well, worse thing worse, I get brain damage", he pondered out loud, "Fina can probably fix it", Bach shrugged briefly then toss the souls at the starving ember.

The flame surged as it devoured the souls in mere second and their memories instantly burnt away, leaving behind nothing but cinders, echo of what he once knew. In returned, however, the surrounding changed. The patch of ash covered ground expanded and dark clouds began to fade in above his head, not enough to create a horizon but he could see a sky being formed. Excited, Bach reach for the dozens of his more useless souls and feed them all to the hungry flame, burning them into mere fractions of what had been in his mind.

Thus, as the ember grew, the world around him began to take a more detailed unmoving from, as if frozen in time. The sky above was a deep void and the clouds were actually smoke rising from the ground around him, eventually blending in with the darkness above. The light sources that helped outlining his surrounding were fireballs, lighting bolts, sorceries and others type of magical projectiles that he recognized from dark souls, all frozen mid-flight. Most of them were going toward the ember or away from it, some were coming downward directly from a familiar miniature red sun the hanging above them all. The ashen had also been dotted with numerous weapons in various state from newly sharpen to charred or rusted, giving an overall look of a desolated battlefield of ash. But most curious of all were the new faces on this battlefield, soldiers, priests and Pursuers all frozen in toward where Bach was standing. Most of them look like transparent ghost but some were solid and detailed, one even looked particularly dread as she was being torn apart by a red Sunlight Spear from above. He noticed that the details were more faded as they went further from the flame.

"Welp, guess this is where that miracle came from", the undead clicked his tongue, and pulled out another clump of souls.

But before he could fuel the flame, his wrist was caught in a vice grip by a hand clad in golden brass gauntlet.

"Boy, you know what curiosity does to cat, don't you?", the velvet words were laced with such a gravely undertone that they made the hair stood on the back of the undead neck.

Looking at the source didn't help either as Bach was now staring at a brass helm adorned with rectangular spike that resemble a crown. Although the symmetrical holes covering the visor shows reveal nothing in the darkness beyond them, Bach knew who he was looking at. The Knight of Carim himself had been a part of the hodgepodge that was his souls but that begged the question of how is the man was talking to him.

"C'mon, Lautrec…", Bach eyed the armored man, noticing the damaged Armoured of the Embraced, "…cat got nine lives. It'll be a shame to not use them, mate."

Shrugged

Slowly, the knight started chuckling in an almost guttural manner, "…you have less lives than you think, kid."

His grip tightened and the chuckles became roaring laughter that kept rising until the noise was like thunder. As it became more unbearable, Bach tried to pry his wrist loose but the undead strength of his real body wasn't present here. Before, he could find another way, Lautrec exploded in flash of lighting that turn the undead vision white.

The sound of thunder never ceased as Bach regain his sight. However, he was not in his own body anymore, his eyes were now dazed, looking out from the visor of a small helmet that was crushing the ears on top of his head. _Another memory,_ Bach thought to himself annoyingly as he mentally prepared to sit in the front row of another ride in what apparently a faunus head. But as the faunus eyes regain focus, Bach's thoughts were suddenly no longer his own, replaced by a cacophony of panic and most prominently, fear.

The faunus back was against a steel container, terrified as crimson bolts of lightning rained down, ripping the dock around him apart in thunderous explosion. He tried to make himself smaller and brought his leg to his chest only for a sudden jolt of pain to burn from right above the knees. Looking down, his scream was incomprehensible as two ragged bloody stump was the only thing remaining. His hand moved, trying to grab hold of the air above the wounds as if the leg was still there, his mind couldn't believe the sight in front of his eyes.

Suddenly, a nearby thunderous bolt of lightning snap his mind to focus at the sight beyond his crippled limbs. He realized the bolts were falling closer and closer to where he was and the inevitable was coming. The faunus rolled to the side and start crawling with desperate, gasping in pains every time the pain flare up in his bloody stumps that he was dragging behind him. This was supposed to be just another heist, something to help his fellows faunus fight against the discrimination and make their voice clear to those who would abuse them. He wasn't planning to die here, he didn't want to die here. But the strength in his arm were being drain away, he was bleeding too much, for too long and quickly they crumbled under his weight.

Lying on his stomach, he could only look forward helplessly at the body of his comrade. There wasn't much left of her but he could clearly see the blue bracelet on her wrist, spelling out her name, Azula. The thunderous explosion became louder and louder in his ear like a giant taking steady steps toward its meal.

"No…please…PLEASE…I don't want to…", the faunus began sobbing uncontrollably.

Soon, the faunus world went dark.

Bach mind was his once again but it was not the same. This wasn't just him looking out from someone else eyes like a TV. This time, he felt it all, the fear, the emotions, the pain, he had lived through it all. He was ready to wake up now, he wanted to wake up now. However, before he could, his thoughts were once again chased away by the memory of another.

* * *

"Go fish", Liz smirked at a mildly annoyed Eric as he reached for the deck of card on the ground.

"How come you keep getting all you need and I don't", he looked briefly at the new card before adding it to his hand, "Your turn."

"Do you have a 7?"

"Oh, come on!", Eric breathed in sharply between his teeth then proceed to surrender the three he had.

"We could go back to poker if you want to", she gingerly put the set down next to the other three.

"No, no, no…I'm not losing the rest of my money."

"You know betting is not mandatory, right?"

"No, it's no fun without betting."

"Okay", Liz shrugged, "By the way, you're not working any part time job, right?"

"No, been trying to get one tho."

"So where are you getting money from? Is it some kind of allowance from Fina? Since, you can't contact your family and all."

At the question, Eric looked to the side in a mixture of annoyance and shame as he took a deep breath.

"I wish it was the _goddess_ who provides", he clicked his tongue, "But no, Bach been giving half of the profit he got from selling alcohol to students."

"Seriously?", Liz raised an eyebrow.

"Yes…WHY is it so hard to get a work permit, damn it!", Eric threw his hands up in frustration.

"Err…you don't need to have one if for a job within the academy…"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"…I'm an idiot…", he facepalmed.

"Well…", Liz was feeling a bit sorry for the guy, "…how much are you owing him now?"

"Nothing actually, he doesn't even want any payback."

"Wow…well…aside from the legality, I don't think it's that much of problem, especially in situation you two are stuck in."

"It's a pride thing and I can feel a sugar daddy jokes coming at the worst moment somewhere down the line."

"Sometimes, I wonder how you guys became friends", she and leaned back against the bed.

"Well, me neither…", he looked at his cards, a faint smile crept up on the corner of his mouth, "…anyway, you got a 9?"

"Go fish."

"Damn it!", Eric reached for the pile while Liz giggled at his misfortune.

As he was looking at the card, a loud rumble suddenly came from the boys closet and shortly after the doors burst open with a cascade of shirts, pants, hangers and finally Bach. The undead was crawling on all four, panting hard with beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Looks someone finally came out of the closet", Liz smile at the amusing mess in front of her.

Her comment, however, went unnoticed as Bach continued to stare down at the floor between his hands with unfocused eyes. His harsh breath drew the pair's attention away from their game of card and the two soon realized something wasn't okay.

"You ok?", Eric's question went on deaf ears, "Hey!"

The yelling snapped Bach's attention back to his friends but his eyes still looked unsure, as if he was trying to determine whether they are real or not. This went on for a few seconds then the undead pushed himself to his feet. He looked out the window for a moment, took a deep breath before squeezing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Are you feeling alright?", Liz was a bit concerned now.

"I'm good, I'm good…", he sighed and open his eyes, "…just a really bad dream…"

"Your face says otherwise", Eric wasn't very convinced by the dazed look on his friend face.

"…ugh…", the turned his head to the closet briefly, "…may that's what happens when you stuff a sleeping person into cramp spaces", he put on a mocking smile and waved Eric off.

Bach grabbed some of his clean clothes off the ground before making a beeline for the bathroom. He slammed the door shut, leaving the pair alone again while the tap could be heard running furiously. Just as Liz opened her mouth, the front door open revealing her twin with a grim look on her face. Alma took a quick look at the pile of clothes then turned to the pair sitting on the ground.

"Is he in there?", her tone was serious with one finger at the bathroom door.

"Yeah, but I don't think he feeling well", her sister respond.

"…I'm not surprised…", Alma muttered under her breath as she made her way across the room.

"Bach!", she called as her knuckle pounded on the hard wood.

A short moment later, a small gap opened between the door and the frame, reveal a tired face making its best goofy expression.

"You call?", Bach answered.

"You're…", Alma took a deep breath as if she was trying to calmed down, "…Ozpin wants you to report to his office…"

"About yesterday?"

"Yes…"

His gazed was downcast for brief moment before he regained an upbeat tone to his voice.

"Well shieeeeet…gimme a sec."

He was soon out of the bathroom with a grey T-shirt and a pair of clean trousers, making his way out.

"Welp, I'm off", he said before shutting the front door behind him.

"Guys…", Alma said to the rest of the team, her voice tense and somber, "…we need to talk…"

* * *

"…have a seat", Ozpin's open hand gestured toward the small vacant sofa on the right of the coffee table which Bach promptly sat down.

The cushion was soft but not enough for him to feel comfortable sitting in front of the headmaster, Fina and the person he recognized as James Ironwood who was having a bad case of resting Bitch face in Bach's opinion. The general mood in the room was quite somber in an unsettling way as even Ozpin's signature mug was resting far away on his desk and Glynda's usual serious visage was replaced by a more concerned apearance. Only the Goddess of love seemed serene and happy as usual which didn't surprise the undead at all.

"Mr. Nguyen", Ozpin calmly butchered the pronunciation, "We've called you here to discuss the events yesterday, particularly your action yesterday."

As the combat instructor tried to get the papers out of the folder in her hands, Fina held a hand to stop her.

"I'm quite sure he has…intimate…knowledge of yesterday. Physical reminders might be a bit too much for the boy."

"Then I think we could get straight to the point", the general bombastic voice forcefully push aside the atmosphere with his military attitude, "Bach, that is your given name, right?"

Bach shrugged annoyingly, he had never liked dealing with authorities.

"Well then, Bach, I'm not going to hold any back then", the general continued, "Yesterday, in the span of about 5 minutes, you've destroyed several billion Lien worth of properties and killed Thirte-

"Fourteen"

"What?", James' scowl intensified with the interruption.

"Fourteen", Bach repeated with downcast gaze, one of his hand rubbed the back of his neck while he forced his mind to remembered, "…got knocked into the bay…armor too heavy…couldn't swim."

As a military man, James clearly saw a weariness not too unlike from his men and for a split second he faltered, but only. Taking a breath, his voiced hardened again.

"Then you realize how dangerous you are? But that's not the only problem here…", he leaned forward slightly, "…we have no idea what you are capable of."

"General, have I not gave you my word on this matter?", the Goddess object with her soothing demeaner.

"Yes, but you did, but you also admit that what happened yesterday was unexpected. That means not everything about your _champion_ ", he still didn't by the goddess and undead story given last night, "is known to you."

"So…", Bach straightened his back, anxious to get to the point, "…when's the jail and experiments talk gonna start? It's not like I'm gonna have a say in the matter anyway."

"NO! No…", Glynda tried to cover the distraught in her voice with a soothing tone, "…we're not going to do something like that."

"Isolated tests and observations are the sound solution to this…", James spoke as if this hasn't been his first rodeo.

"My students are people, not one of those robots for your army to poke and prod around in a lab, James!", she slammed the folders on the small coffee table.

"The measure does seem a bit too extreme for someone stopped a grouped of terrorist", Fina chimed in, sounding calm as ever,

"And none of you have come up with any alternatives in our previous discussions", the man fired back, "we are dealing with someone who can possibly level a city block in minutes, Glynda."

They continued to argued about ethics, safety, practicality and other subjects regarding how to deal with the undead sitting there. Bach, however, had tuned out thirty seconds into the debates, he thought it was pointless to listen as his opinion won't do much at this point. It didn't matter when Eric got dragged into Remnant with him and it won't matter much now. Instead, he focused on the one choice that had weight in this room, arguably the most weighted, Ozpin.

The man's been silent since his invitation to sit down, his normal calm was upset by the matter but not enough to truly remove the indifference on his face. However, he was considering all options for the the final judgement lies with the principal's words. Bach knew this as fact from watching the show but he's not going to plead to the man. He didn't even know what a good response to yesterday should be and does not beg, he'd like to think that his parents raised him well enough to take responsibility for his own actions. So, Bach entered a staring contest with Ozpin while he waited for the man to make up his mind or something else to happen.

Finally, with a forceful tap on the ground using his cane, Ozpin silenced the room.

"Before we continued with our rather spirited discussions, I think it'll be best for the rest of team ABEL to be a part of it instead of eavesdropping."

Bach turned to the door with an eyebrow raised, something else did happened and his teammates started filing into the room. All of them were looking quite nervous to the Undead but Alma's face seemed to hold the same determination as when she was trying to beat a Huntsman into his head. On the other hand, general scowl was so deep, Bach suspect that a certain fat singer might be rolling somewhere in it.

"It seems you also have something to add to the matter, Miss Campbell", the headmaster calmly leaned he cane against the coffee table.

"I-I…", Alma took a moment to steady her words, "We, as a team, don't want Bach to be put in prison or any kind of lab experiment."

"Alma, we've told you during the debrief, we haven't agreed to that", Glynda voice was soft, "And we won't."

"But it's the only one you are considering right now…", the faunus' lips tightened to a line.

"It is a very best solution to this problem", the general was trying his best to look like a rational man.

"My student is not a problem!", Bach was expected a brawl between Glynda and James at this point, he just need a bag of popcorn now.

"C-can I have a w-word?", everyone turned to Eric as he straightened his back before continuing, "If he's going to be taken in, it's best that I also come along s-since I also _blessed_ by Fina."

The goddess look almost miffed by the remark on her gifts.

"Eric!?", Liz exclaimed while her twin was just stunned, "What are y-

"Dude! Whatthefuck!?", Bach turned his friend, flabbergasted, "This **ain't your problem.** "

"You can't be the only one with the short end for something we all do, right?", Eric was tried his best to not look scared of the prospect, "Just, h-how'd you usually say it, being a friend?"

"Being a friend means picking my arse up from the airport every now and then not-", he turned to the principal, "I swear, Ozpin, if-

Ozpin cut him off with a curt gesture with his hand.

"I've come to my decision on the matter", the announcement came with an indifferent tone, "Mr. Nguyen will continue his education at Beacon."

Team ABEL was taken aback by his choice and it looked like general Ironwood wasn't too please either.

"With conditions, of course", the principal proceed without a care, "Additional surveillance will be installed and Atlas military will have full access to them as well as my permission to deploy their men within Vale.

This should allow you", he turned to James, "to study him at your whims and prevent any problems should things get out of hand. This would also provide with added security that Vale might very well need in the future."

James stared the man in the eyes for a few second before shaking his head, smirking as he did so.

"Fine", he chuckled, "If you want to let my men occupy Vale just so your student can be further endangered then fine, it's your choice."

"If it prevents me from losing any more than four Huntsmen then so be it", Bach swear he could pick up a growl from Ozpin voice now, "And must I remind you, old friend, he is also one of my students."

James simply chuckled and held up his hand in a placating manner, not wishing to challenge the man.

"Now…", Ozpin turned back to his students, "…this meeting been going on long enough for you four. I suggested you leave us to discuss the details and enjoy the rest of Sunday."

The team find it logically to start nervously making their way out of the room, the conclusion to Bach's predicament haven't make the atmosphere any lighter. However, just as the undead was about to close the door, the Goddess called out to him.

"Champion, whatever power you'd discovered within your soul last night, I implore you to never tap into it again, for the sake of both yours and everyone else interest", her voice was less motherly and more foreboding this time.

Bach gave her a curt nod and slammed the door shut.

* * *

"You guys are surprisingly cool with me putting fourteen people six feet under", Bach eyes were still glued to the changing floor number in the elevator.

The team had managed to carried some of the tense atmosphere in the room with them and Bach's word were the first words between each other. Liz threw a quick glance at her teammate before speaking.

"You know we're not really okay with it."

"No, you're not", Bach turned his head away from the numbers and down toward the buttons.

"But you know what we're even less okay with?"

"Being put six feet under by that giant woman", Alma spoke up before Bach could ask the question.

"I see."

"I don't think you're anywhere near being okay with it either", Eric tilt his head slightly to the side, trying to see more than the back of his friend's head.

"Yeah…", Bach finally turned around, "…but I don't like intervention either."

"I know, we're not going to push it."

"Just remember that you have a team, Bach", Alma said as the doors opened.

"Sure…", Bach started walking out but briefly stopped for a moment, "…one thing I can say from all this though, that general sure got an Ironwood up his arse."

"Damn it, Bach…you're just horrible…", Eric tried his best to not laugh as he followed his friends.

"At least, he can still make horrible puns…", Liz commented while her sister just shook her head with a facepalm.


	19. Chapter 19: The Beacon Screwjob

"So…", Bach tilted the scroll toward Eric, "…dining hall is short on staff, and the paid is above minimum."

"Nooooooooo", Eric physically recoiled when he saw the ads.

"Aren't you picky for someone who's broke."

"Are you going to take it then?"

"Fuck no", he scoffed at the suggestion, "I 've had my share of dumb hungry college students."

"How about th-

"Would you two put them away and shut up before Glynda notices!", Alma was as loud as a whisper can be, "You can find a job later!"

The scrolls were promptly put away as the two guys turned their gaze toward the match further down in the indoor stadium, grumbling as he did. They were just in time to see Pyrrah giving Cardin a final bash in the head with her shield, putting him down along with the rest of his team. The whole fight was as one-sided as any other ones that involved the best huntress in training.

"You would think she'll be dueling with the profs by now…", Eric commented as the losers dragged themselves off.

"Or her own training regimen", Alma leaned back on the bleacher with her arms crossed.

"Well…", Liz's fingers were drumming the side of her cheek, "…maybe they don't want everyone else to feel inadequate."

"Then how about participation medal for everyone while they're at it", Bach joked as his eyes wandered to something else from across the auditorium.

Silvery-gray hair and a matching shirt with black lining, Mercury was sitting next to his exotic looking partner, Emerald. For some reason, the people in power had allowed them to just come in with no fuss whatsoever despite prior information given by him and Eric. But that didn't bother him very much as, Ozpin did whatever he wants but what was really gnawing at him right now were the memories bubbling at the back of his mind.

Aside from the huntsmen in his head, the dead White Fangs weren't very fond of these two either, for more than just a few reasons. However, most of the animosity came from how lightly the pair took their cause and the several occasions where they had used White Fangs members as scapegoat or distractions. Bach could feel their anger rising in his head rapidly especially from those who blamed their demise on the two newcomers. He tried to pushed these memories away but ever since the dockyard debacle, his ability to control the souls he held was somewhat compromised.

"Bach!"

"Wot?", his eyes snapped back to Eric, "What'd I miss?"

"Well…", Eric was having this inquisitive tone to his voice, "…you just looked like you've seen a ghost a second there."

"I'm nothing, just having a random Vietnam flashback", he waved it off.

"Never mind…", Eric sighed and just turned back to the what was going on down below.

"What's a Vietnam flashback?", Liz asked.

"Remembering how mom beat me up with a coat hanger."

"Seriously?"

"No, but yer not gonna understand it anyway."

The faunus just shook her head and gave up with a scoff. She turned her attention back to Glynda's quick analysis of Pyrrah's fight just in time for it to end. As the instructor asked for volunteers for a last match of the morning, Bach decided to go back to his scroll again. He'd seen this song and dance before in the web series and seeing it live doesn't make it less boring. This prompt Alma to reach over her sister and punch him in the shoulder.

"Ey! not cool, mate."

"Would you stop trying to get in trouble?", Alma hissed through her teeth.

"Chill, good ol' Glynda's gonna have her hand full in the next match", he was rubbing the sore spot where her fist connected.

"Mr. Nguyen, will you accept this match", the combat instructor announced through the blaring speakers.

"Wut?", Bach straightened up immediately and look down at Glynda with incredulous eyes, "With whom?"

The prof made a small gesture with her hand toward the bleacher on the other side, toward Mercury, who was looking at the undead with a confident smirk.

"This ain't supposed to happen?", Bach turned to his friend.

Eric just shrugged, as clueless as he was. Frustrated, Bach pondered for a few second then stood up.

"Aaaaaaa…fuck it, why not?", he mumbled then raised his voice, "Just gimme a couple of minutes to get ready."

Bach promptly made his way toward the locker room, grumbling as he tried to get between the rows of students crowding the bleacher.

* * *

A few minutes later, Mercury was quite amused by the sight of his opponent slowly stomping his way on to the ring. The guy was wearing what looks to be a heavy set of plate armor made completely out stone slabs of various size with a helm of similar material cradled in his left arm. Every step he made up the short stair echoed across the room as if the audience was listening to a walking statue. However, what impressed the undercover terrorist the most was how little effect the armor sheet weight had on the wearer, Bach didn't even seem to register what he was wearing as heavy.

"A little overdress, are we?", Mercury comment as he adjusted his vambrace.

"well, it's surprising easy to put this on so hey, why not?", Bach shrugged while taking his place across the ring.

"Whatever floats your boat."

"Anyway, what's up with the random challenge", the stone helm was being secured over the guys' head.

"Let's just say you stood out after recent events", the terrorist smirked, trying to be look mysterious.

"I see", Bach answered curtly then pulled out a giant stone tower shield and a equally huge bone club from what seemed to be thin air, "Well, let's just get this over with."

A second after those words left his mouth, the armored juggernaut was already leaping toward his opponent with the club raised high with only an arm. The blow smashed into the ground as Mercury sidestepped the attack but there was no answer. For a split second, he could only look at the crack ground beneath the blow incredulous eyes, unable to believe the speed and strength that it came with, especially with at least a ton of armor. But there was no time to take in the impossible as the giant shield opened into a massive horizontal swing toward his mid-section. The young man quickly came to his sense and backpedaled just enough to feel the air being pulled by the passing weapon. He saw a shoulder bash coming and decided to propelled to himself away with his legs, finally putting a significant distance between him and the walking tank.

With his opponent fairly out of his reach, Bach simply turned to face him with shield raised and club rested on one shoulder. Mercury, on the other hand, used the chance to get a good look at the stone juggernaut. With the initial shock out of the way, he realized that though the speed was impressed, it was hardly comparable to what his legs are capable of. So, he dashed toward the waiting opponent.

Bach swung the giant club against in anticipation but Mercury was already above him, spinning through the air. Landing on his hand, the teenager used the momentum to whip his feet against the back of the undead. The attacks connected but Mercury felt like he was kicking a mountain as his opponent didn't even budge. He quickly jumped away from an incoming shield slam, launching several dust rounds with his kicks as he went. Yet again, the few shot that slip past the massive tower shield simply bounced off the breastplate, looking even less effective than his feet.

In response, Bach surged forward against with another swing from below, forcing Mercury to jump out of the way. This time, however, was a feint as the undead changed course and continued running, dragging the club on the ground behind him. Mercury rolled to the side as soon as his feet touch the ground, avoiding the shield only to come face to face with the follow-up, the club. Leaning back at the last moment, he felt the rough exterior of the weapon on his aura as the blow passed by his face. The teenager quickly countered with a kick to his opponent's armored waist and use the force to launch himself away, again putting a large distance between the two.

The duel continued as Mercury continuously rushed in with swift strikes and jumped back in a hit-and-run cycle, dodging all his opponent counter attacks. However, despite all his effort for the past minute or so, Bach just stood there like an immovable boulder and the stone helm hid any indication of frustration or any kind of emotion from the guy.

15 seconds later, Mercury paused his assault for moment, taking a quick glance at the large screen behind the stage. A fifth of his aura had already been drained from the exertion while Bach's gauge didn't seem to move at all. This made him noticed, there were no visible sign of aura around the stone armor, even when it was hit.

"Are you seriously fighting with no aura?", he asked.

A shrug was the reply which made his eye twitched slightly. He couldn't really believe this nonsense as his eye wandered to the ground around Bach, numerous cracked where the giant club connect with the ground. This kind of strength needs aura yet the display showed no indication of its usage.

He decided to rush in again, this time aiming for the right arm. As it had happened before, Bach countered unsuccessfully and Mercury's heels crashed against the stone gauntlet. A swing from the undead quickly him threw Mercury back but his aura had already briefly expanded and felt nothing underneath the stone. Another quick glance at the

"Alright, I give up."

"Seriously?", the undead tilted his head as much as head with the helm on, "You dragged my arse down here just to run off again?"

"Again…?", the teenager mumbled shortly before answering as he started walking away, "I know when I'm bested, at least those buffoons actually have an excuse for their failures this time."

"Well, I guess you really are your father biggest disappointment."

Mercury turn his head back so quickly that it might flew off.

"What did you just say?"

* * *

Bach was ready to be done with this little duel and get out of Havel's portable sauna but that last throw away comment made him fly off the handle. It didn't sit well with the souls in his head and immediately, they surged forth, putting an unfathomable anger at the forefront of his mind.

"Well, I guess you really are your father biggest disappointment", he called out as Mercury turned away.

"What did you just say", the young man immediately turned his head back.

"Oh, me?", Back pointed small the end of the dragon tooth at himself, "Nothing, man. Just saying that maybe Cinder took your sorry arse in outta pity, mate."

"You don't know what you're talking, buddy", the words came out slow and menacing, warning him his mouth shut.

"Oh, really?", Bach let out a curt laugh, "Let me make say it better then."

The dragon tooth quickly was place back in the storage box and replaced by the metal charm given to Bach by his mother. He could see the slight amazement in Mercury eyes, as the tooth disappearance was literally magic.

 _Hear Ye! Hear Ye!_

As he began to chant, Bach could feel the angry souls coiling along his right arm toward the glowing catalyst as if they were tendrils of his souls.

 _The tale of house Black_

 _And their last son, Mercury_

The unseen tendrils converged briefly and began to creep across the arena, reaching for the soul of their target.

 _Some call it filicide_

 _But that's how he dies_

The anger twisted around the young soul, kindling the sparks of anger deep below the playful demeanor.

 _For the son was such a disappointment_

 _The man chose suicide_

That was all the miracle needed and Mercury dashed forth, roaring with rage.

Bach barely had enough time to block the kick with his shield and the impact echoed across the auditorium. He swung the slab of stone open to find his opponent already far away, readying for another charge. The next kick slammed against his shoulder and again, Mercury bounced away, too fast for any retaliation.

It was starting to look one-sided as Bach came under a barraged of blows from an opponent bouncing back and forth so fast that he barely saw the boots before they connected. The miracle was working a little too well this time for his liking. However, he wasn't too bothered as the blows was barely noticeable against the stone plate, Havel's signature suit isn't known for being fragile. As he calmed down a bit, Bach began to shift through his mind to find something strong enough for this problem but weak enough to not increase his body count.

 _I am the peeble, I am the stone_

He held the miracle, waiting for Mercury to jump in for another strike.

 _I am the boulder, I AM THE ROCK!_

The sound blast radiated out from the metal charm and smashed against Mercury, throwing him across the ring like a ragdoll. Seizing the moment, Bach charged up a fireball in his hand and throw it before his opponent could re-orient himself. As he expected, the fire barely did any damage but the explosion once again send Mercury flying and this time toward his waiting arm.

"Welcome to suplex city, bitch!", Bach quick grabbed the teenager by the waist from behind, "Population: PAIN!"

The german suplex felt like it rocked the whole stadium as the sound of both their head colliding against the floor rang across the hall. Bach quickly push himself back to his feet and look down at Mercury. The boy's eyes were unfocused, the blow probably rocked his head pretty good. However, Bach looked at the display and saw that he can put in a few more punches till Mercury bar turns red.

He raise the armored fist then his vision was blinded in purple explosion.

* * *

"Miss Schulz!", Glynda quickly put the giant display on standby, "It's nice that you've finally join us, but please refrain from interfering with others' practice match in the future."

Bach was knocked flat on his back and clutching the eye slit on his helm but all eyes in the auditorium were on the newly arrival from the lockers. At the entrance was a pale frail-looking girl with a shimmering bow of purple light in her hands. She wore a long sleeveless dress made from white silk that stops just below her knees, showing a pair of silver greaves and what seems to be a long fluffy tail. Her flowing hair was a shade of light brown that were almost blonde, pulled back by a brass band. For those who sat closest to the door, however, they were treated with a better look at her visage. Her brows were glittering scales in the same shade of light purple and she spotted a pair of pointed ears that didn't seem it belong to any common faunus. Despite the particularity, she held an almost ethereal beauty like a frail priestess and the bow in her arm told of a fiercer side.

"My apologies, professor Goodwitch", she bowed deeply while her bow simply vanished between her clasped hand, "I thought mine own companion wast in distress."

"We're soooo sorry, professor", Emerald quickly jumped down next to the new student, wrapping one arm around her elbow, "She's pretty new to the whole Huntress academy business."

"I've read her files miss Sustrai, I know", Glynda took glance at Bach who was trying to pour estus through the slit of his stone helm, "But I can clearly see why Haven gave her a scholarship…I'll let you off this time, Miss Schulz, but only once."

"Thank you, professor. I shall beest more mindful in the future", she bowed again, making Emerald cringe slightly at the formal speech.

"Thank god to that, eh?", Bach yelled sarcastically as he sat up, "Wait…are you?"

He turned his head to Glynda with a finger pointing at the new student.

"Who's she?"

"This is miss Yolanda Schulz, one of our new exchange student from Haven", Glynda was glaring back, trying to make the undead drop the topic.

Bach's gaze move from the two exchange students then to Mercury who was massaging the side of his head with a hand as he stood up.

"Right…right…", he shook his head and pushed himself to his feet, "Can I go get change now, since this little match is over and all?"

"Yes, you may", she sighed as Bach stomped his way past the pair of exchange students, "Alright, class dismiss! And miss Sustrai, please help your friend familiarize herself with the Academy system."

"Yes, prof."

The three members of ABEL sat across Glynda's desk in her office, anxiously waiting for Bach to come so they could finally hear what the professor had to say. He had said he had to change his shirt and took off toward the dorms while still in full armor. Meanwhile, the combat instructor was checking her e-mail while levitating a small watering can toward the small flower on her desk, the only thing colorful in her rather minimalistic office. Finally, the door open and Bach came in, looking like he'd just took a very quick shower.

"Sorry, had to take the stair", he pulled a chair next to Eric, "By the way, here's a souvenir for ya."

He dropped a triangular piece of metal into his friend hands.

"What is this?", Eric asked.

"The arrow head that got stuck in my eye", Bach shrugged as he took a seat.

"Are you serious?"

"Why do you think I had to change my shirt? That girl put the damn thing right through the helm's eye slid", he shuddered while getsutre to the clean T-shirt he was wearing, "The were so much blood, I might as well use the shirt for communist propaganda."

"You're disgusting", Eric just dropped the arrowhead on the floor while Liz shook her head and Alma facepalmed.

"Ahem…", Glynda cleared her throat, signaling everyone to be silence, "Now that you're here, we can finally start."

"Excuse me, professor, but what are we here for?", Alma asked.

"Mr. Nguyen asked me before class about the two White Fang operative-

"Yeah, why are they running free again? I remember telling you about those two", bach leaned back with arm crossed.

"So…", Glynda gave the undead a glare as Eric punched him in the shoulder, "…I've decide to clear thing up a bit with the team as a whole."

"I see", Alma nodded.

"First, I'd like to thank you for all the information you've brought to us…", Glynda took a glance to make sure the blinds were closed along with the door, "…the principal and general Ironwood had already moved to response to the white fang plans for the future."

"And can you tell us what the response is?", Alma was sounding quite skeptical.

"No, but I can tell you that right now, we are only to observe their operatives to avoid any complications to the plans put in place", as Glynda expected, her answer didn't please anyone, "But it seems that there has already been some complication…"

"How so?", the team leader asked.

"Mr. Nguyen, the third transfer student, she wasn't mentioned in the notes you've given us, yet you seem to know her."

"Well, A: can you just call me Bach? You can't really pronounce my last name anyway, and B: She wasn't even supposed to exist here but…", he looked at the twin and Eric, "…everyone should know her by now."

"Umm…I'm pretty sure I'll remember anyone who look that pretty, Bach", Liz raised an eyebrow.

"Do you remember Yorshka, that giant woman at the dock four days ago? You know, the one that almost killed y'all?", he raised an open palm to emphasized the point.

Everyone's face was a mixture of worry and surprise.

"Bach, I know the new girl is tall but that giant was like…", Eric held up and arm, trying to illustrate his point, "…a giant."

"That hit to the head might've been more serious than you think.", Liz chimed in.

"You guys want me to explain it or not?", Bach leaned back with his arm crossed.

"Go ahead then", Glynda beckoned with her hand ready on the keyboard.

"We're all informed of undead little inclination towards other people's souls, right?"

"Yes, we all know you're fucked, Bach", Eric ushered him to get on with it.

"Yes, I am, but that's beside the point which is the little quirk that comes with it. I can, in a way, sense powerful souls and be drawn to them, kinda like a compass or Liz's semblance."

"Are you saying that you can recognize people by their souls?", Glynda asked.

"Only the powerful ones, or if the person is a firekeepers like Eric here", he pointed to his friend who was looking quite uncomfortable.

"I see, and this is how you recognized her as the new student."

"Yep, Liz can double check it with her semblance if she wants to."

"But that doesn't explain why she looked like…that", Alma still had a look of disbelieve, "The woman at the docks was a giant."

"I'm getting to it…", Bach held up both hand toward the faunus, telling her to be patient, "There's been speculation that Lordran's deities can somewhat alter their appearance using the sheer power of their souls, like making themselves bigger or smaller.

Since Yorshka is one of them or at least related to one, I'd said making herself shorter and hiding a few tentacles isn't too hard. Either that or she'd leant a few tricks from Gwyndolin. Kinda weird that she couldn't hide the scales or the tail, though."

"And what is this Lordran you speak of and who is this Gwyndolin?", the professor looked intrigued by the new information.

"Ask Fina, she can probably tell you more about Lordran. As for Gwyndolin: dead, gone, kaput, don't worry about him", Bach shrugged.

"I see…", the prof sighed and shook her head slightly, obviously wanting to know more, "…I'll past this on to Ozpin. You can go now."

"Thank you, professor", Alma pushed herself up along with her team.

"And by the way…", Glynda call out as the team was half way through the door, "…if she is indeed who you say she is. Please don't do anything rash."

* * *

"Welp, I guess whatever plan they have, it's above our paygrade", Bach said as he took a long stride out of the elevator.

"We don't even get paid, Bach", Eric sighed.

"You know, I think we should worry more about the giant murderer two doors away from our room, guys", Liz was a bit nervous about the situation.

"I don't think she'll do anything rash as long as we keep to ourselves", Alma said assuredly as the quartet stop briefly for a small column of Atlesien soldier to pass.

"Well, anyway, you guys go back without me, I'mma get some extra practice in the gym.", Bach started jogging toward said building.

"Again?"

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna be drunk", Bach hollered before mumbling to himself, "God, I'm turning into my dad."

"I'm guessing that he didn't read the quartermaster's e-mail", Liz crossed her arm.

"I don't even think the guy even checks his e-mail", Eric commented.

"Sis…"

"I know, I know…", Alma leaned back slightly, shoving her hand into the short's pockets and sighed, "…you two go ahead, I'll handle this."

With that, she started walking to the gym, leaving the pair behind.

"Soooo…", Eric pause slightly, "…should we just go back to the dorm?"

"I was thinking about pool."

"The pool?", Eric's face lit up with surprised and an excitement that he failed to hide.

"I meant billiard, silly", she smiled and miming a cue stroke with her hands.

"Oooooooooh…", Eric turned his head slightly at an angle while scratching the back of it, feeling the heat behind his ears.

Liz giggle audibly.

"Well, I've always wanted to learn the game."

"Wait, you don't know how to play pool?"

"You can teach me", she tilted her head slightly and shrugged, "Bach said you're really good at it."

"He did?"

"Yeah, you taught him how to play, didn't you?"

"Err…w-w-well…y-yes yes!", he cleared his through briefly, "*Ahem* let's go, then."

Eric started walking toward the academy's arcade with Liz following along gingerly. He didn't really know what to think about this situation since the amount of times he'd beaten Bach at pool could literally be counted with one hand. Somewhere along the way, he cursed the guy under his breath.

* * *

"Ow…", Mercury winced as he placed the ice pack on the back of his head.

He was sitting on the side of his bed with his back hunched over, obviously still feeling the effect of the practice match. His aura never broke but the raw blunt force from the undead still rocked his head hard. In addition, there was this strange lingering anger after the fight that was slow to go away.

"I thought you were just going to probe his ability", his partner, Emerald, was leaning against the bunk's frame with her arm crossed.

"I was…but he just said these things and…"

"So, he pissed you off with a bad poem?"

"No, it was more than that…", he shook his head, trying to recall the fuzzy memory, "…it was like I had an inexplicable anger that kept building with every word of that stupid poem until it became overwhelming."

"A semblance like mine perhaps?

"It could be…"

"T'was no semblance like thy owneth", Yorshka's voice immediately grabbed their attention from across the room.

She was sitting on a chair with eyes focused on the maintenance she was performing on the thin silver long sword on her desk.

"Can you tell us what it was since you're supposed to be our expert on this supposed undead", Emerald raised an eyebrow as the half-breed had finally spoke to them since the match.

"The poem wast the chant for twisted miracle", Yorshka lined up the blade next to her eyes, "It seizes the dark within thine souls and twists them around until there was nothing but hostility for the one who casts it."

"So…all undead can do something like that?", Mercury wasn't feeling very pleasant on the prospect of his soul being violated.

"Much more…", the half-breed wipe the oil over her blade with a small piece of cloth, "…and much worse."

"Well, I guess I shouldn't have called for that match, huh?"

"No, t'was foolish of thee", she stated, matter-of-factly, "T'was ill-advised for thee to even think about it in the first place."

"If it was such a foolish decision then where were you to stop us", Emerald was getting annoyed by her their ally's tone.

"I was unfamiliar with this ' _scroll'_ device and thus, was lost."

"Seriously?", the girl scoffed, "And you're supposed to be our best chance against this guy who supposedly can do _much worse_."

"No", Yorshka finally sheath her sword and turned to face the pair, "But those who do had long died by his kind."

She placed the sword leaning against the desk and left to clean her hand in the sink.


	20. Chapter 20: Beers and Balls

The Profaned Blade caught fire as its edge grinded against the floor in an upward swing, toward an unfortunate practice dummy. As the blade made contact, the metal dummy was propelled through the air as its body cracked in half. The pieces fell back down moments later as if it was raining debris. Looking at the broken pile lying at his feet, Bach sighed, muttering a swear under his breath before pulling out another silver great sword with his left hand. He turned his attention to another dummy in the vicinity and raise the pair of sword close to his body, letting what remained of the Pontiff guide his movements. Two diagonal cuts from both side followed by a spinning swipe with the flaming sword, a follow up thrust from the left which led to another upward slash and a final cut that split he dummy from head to toe in in a blaze.

"You definitely haven't read the e-mail…", Alma was leaning against the nearby wall with her arm crossed.

"Huh? When did you get here?", Bach paused his massacre of innocent training dummies and turned to the faunus, "And what e-mail?"

"Just now and the one is from the quartermaster. He sent it last night, you should really read it."

"Oh, I check my inbox on weekly basis but okay…", Bach fumbled with the swords a bit as he pulled out his scroll, "Ooooph…that's one angry e-mail."

He eyed the broken dummy lying next to his feet, looking like he'd just crashed his dad's new Camry.

Alma let out a long sigh, "I'll be angry too if I have to fix all the dummies you've broken in the last four days."

"To my defense, these things are not as tough as they're supposed to be…", he raised his hand to the sides.

In response, Alma jerked her thumb to the far side of the gym where team RWBY was practicing with another set of training dummies. Yang was punching the living shit out of her inanimate victim which was holding out just fine against the buckshotd from her gauntlets.

"Welp, I'll just make myself scarce before…", he quickly made his way to the door only to be stopped by Alma outstretch arm.

"What are you trying to do, Bach?"

"Errr…getting away before the angry blacksmith in the basement show up?"

"Bach…", she pinched the bridge of her nose and sigh, "…breaking school properties isn't going to make you feel any better about the dock."

"Hey, we don't know that yet", Bach obviously was trying to make a joke out by the sounds of his voice, "It usually takes more than four days for me to get the feel for any activity. I'll give you my review on vandalism later."

"And what if doesn't help? You're going to start beating people up instead of dummies?"

"No pfft…where did you get that idea?"

"We'd seen you cast magic before, you think we wouldn't see you do it in the auditorium?", Alma jabbed a finger on his chest, "If anything, I think you were trying to send Mercury to the infirmary like what you did to Cardin."

"First, it's called a miracle not magic. Second, I was just going to give him a black eye, dude deserves it and…well, maybe a wedgie along the way…", he shrugged.

"Bach! Can't you just be serious?"

"Can't you just let me be an emo asshole in peace?", Alma ears twitched, signaling for Bach to get out.

Unfortunately, before he could run, her nails had already dug into his shoulder in a vice grip that made even his knees weak and arms heavy.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Shit! Ow! Okay, okay, I give!"

"We're going to have going to have little intervention between you and I", she pulled down until his face was at her level, "Whether you like it or not."

"OKAY! OKAY! Fuck! Being undead doesn't mean it doesn't hurt!", he desperately tried to pry her hands off his shoulder.

She took a deep breath and finally let go, leaving Bach to rub the sore spot her hand left on his shoulder. He took a brief look under the T-shirt to check for any mark.

"Does being a cat faunus comes with sharp nails?", Alma's only reaction was the impatient tapping of her foot, "Fine, let's go somewhere Ozpin camera can't hear us; I don't want his Atlesian buddy to have a crack at my psyche."

She nodded and followed him through the door.

"You know, this is for your own good, right?", Alma sighed.

"Yep, I know, you wouldn't do it if it wasn't."

"Then, why do I always have to beat you up until you listen?"

"Maybe you're so not good with words or…", he shrugged with a grin, "…maybe you're just a really violent person."

Bach was nursing another bruise on his rib the rest of the way.

* * *

The cue ball rolled just fast enough to collide with the seventh but both of them barely moved anywhere else.

"Your turn!", Liz shrugged away her failure with a quick smile.

"Uhmmm…", her opponent began drumming his fingers against his chin, trying to figure out the pool table before him.

Eric was lucky enough to not really mess up any shot so far but it felt like his luck was running out. The game had gone on for 15 minutes and the only things that both of them managed to put into the pockets are the 12th and the cue ball, thrice. The usual tactic against his asshole of a friend, hitting hard enough to randomly score as the ball goes around the table, was failing him as this very moment. This was very disappointing and beside his dad, Liz was the one person he did not want to disappoint.

"Taught him how to play…fuck you Bach…", he muttered under his breath before turning his gaze back up to his friend, "I'm not doing very well, am I?"

He scratched the back of his head lazily with free hand then made a shot that landed the eight ball dangerously close to one of the pocket.

"Might your off day, we've all had one at some point", Liz chuckled then lined up the cue again, "Maybe you could show me how to actually hit the cue ball this time."

"Well…err…", he desperately recounted his friend's billiard crash course, "…you could rest the pool cue against your hip, maybe…err…lock you upper arm, only move your forearm, I think?"

"Come here and show me", she said expectantly.

"S-s-sure"

Eric quickly rest the cue against the closest object before making his way toward the faunus, who was still waiting with the stick in her hand. He tried to nudge her arm and the cue in the right position while standing in front of her.

"Erm…why do you want to play pool anyway?", Eric asked as he awkwardly fixed the girl's posture.

"Well, Alma and I've been trying to turn you two into proper huntsmen for more than a month", she took the shot and look expectantly as the cue ball slowly roll forward, "I'd like to have more to talk about other than tactics and strategies."

"By playing pool?"

"By at least knowing what you guys usually do for fun", she clicked her tongue as the 5th barely moved from the collision, "All I've had so far is a vague description of where you came from and you're broke, well, one of you…"

"Yeah...You could've asked, though…"

"I've asked Bach-

"You asked Bach?", Eric looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I know, hindsight 20/20, other than pool, I think everything he said was just a long joke."

"What did he say anyway?", Eric's head tilted as he tried to look for a good shot.

"Well, he said he enjoys playing god with virtual puppets and a healthy dose of daily… _schadenfreude_?"

"That just means he likes video games and annoying the hell out of everyone", he sighed and leaned in with the cue, "What…did he said about me?"

"Err…he said…and I quote: _Eric? He loves talking about his imaginary dictatorship, criticizing cars he can't afford, bashing the Canadian government and…watching over-sexualized underage Chinese cartoon girls._ "

As the words were spoken, Eric missed his shot by a wide margin and managed to land the cue into another hole. Liz just chuckled lightly as she fished the ball out and place it on the table.

"I swear…", Eric took a deep breath, "I'm going to have him executed."

"So it's true?"

"Yes! No! Well, that's not what Anime's all about!"

"Anime?"

"The cartoon girls but that's not what it's about!"

Liz giggled as her teammate was looking more like a ripe tomato.

"You could tell me what it's all about now? We got the time."

"S-s-sure", Eric let out a long sigh.

"But you have to come here and show me how to make a proper shot first."

"Again?"

"Yes, properly this time", she beckoned him to come and stand behind her.

Eric once again felt the heat running up the back of his neck as he tried to awkwardly wrap his arms around hers.

* * *

"Is this really necessary", Alma asked with a frown on her face.

"You're right, let's go back and forget this whole intervention thingy", Bach stood up from the tree stump only to find the team leader's firm grip on his shoulder, "Ow…"

"I meant the beer you've just opened", she deadpanned.

"Yes", he turned and gesture the space around them with an outstretch arm, "Why else would I want to do this talk in the middle of fucking nowhere."

They were amongst a plethora of stump in a clearing just next to the electric wall that lined the part of the cliff at the Academy's rear. The heavy machineries lying around indicated a renovation in progress but the lack of workers meant that something else more important had put it on hold. The place didn't have the breath-taking view of the jumping platform due to the fences but the sight from the cliff was still nice enough. For a while, Bach sat there, staring at the skyline with a beer bottle in his hand before Alma finally took the bottle from his hand.

"What are you doing?", Bach gave the faunus a confused look as she took a swig.

"Mother said that…", she frowned a bit at the bitter taste, "…it's easier to share stories over a beer with friends."

"Shouldn't that be an advice from the father?"

"You haven't met my mother."

"Now I want to", Bach chuckled.

"Yeah…", the faunus smile slightly then shook her head, "…c'mon, let's get back to topic, Bach."

"Alright…"

Bach sighed and sat down the nearest stump witch prompted Alma to take a seat on an opposite log. He pulled out another beer from the bottomless box, opened it using the edge of the stump and drank a quarter of it in one swig. Finally, he spoke, his face actually looking sullen for the first time since she's met him.

"Let's start with a story about a little faunus, name's Azula because her mom mispronounced the 'r'. She had a family, a house on a hill and a little swing her dad made using spare pipes he got from the mine he worked at", Bach turned his head to the sky and sucked in the air through gritted teeth, "She loves that fucking swing, I can actually feel it, the emotions…

Anyway, one day, her dad lost his leg, his job and most of the family's income cause the dust mining companies didn't like to pay a faunus what he's owed. She did try to help but no amount of petition, demonstration or marches were going to change anyone's mind, profit is still profit. But they were still happy though; the family still had each other, a house and that little swing by the front porch. She was still happy."

"But?", Alma shifted uncomfortably on the stumped, her fingers wrapped the bottle tightly.

"Yeah…there's a 'but' in there…At one point, the executives figure that a processing plant near the mine would be really good for business.

So, a whole town full of faunus was forced to move and not a single fuck was given", Bach sighed and took another swig, "Things got violent and poor Azula loss her dad, her home and the finally that little swing by the front porch."

Alma swallowed the beer in her mouth, breathed in nervously and ask a question that she felt was redundant.

"Was she there? At the dock?"

"Bingo. It didn't take much convincing for her to go along with White Fang's new MO…", Bach pressed the knuckles on his free hand against his nostril as he breathed in, "…you know, I think Fina censored the shit out of souls she's given me. They're just memories but devoid of both emotion and sensation, just pure actions. Even then, there no memories of how they'd lived, just how they'd fought.

But for the ones at the dock… the one I killed last Sunday…", he gulped down the rest of his beer and breath out sharply, "…I can FEEL what she felt: happiness, anger, fear and whatever the fuck it was when the bolt tore her in half."

Alma remained silent as she looked at the undead before her, his gaze downcast.

"Miracles…", he scoffed, "Do you know what was her last thought while she stared at what used to be her lower half?"

"The swing…"

"Yeah…", he let the bottle slipped from his hand and fell to the ground, "Guess I'll need to get used to these things fast…."

Alma leaned back and drank the rest of her beer before throwing the empty bottle at a nearby stump, shattering it.

"You're telling me another story tomorrow", her face was serious, her voice stern, "and another one after that until you have nothing left to tell."

"Want me to write you a book?", Bach looked a bit amused.

"It not a joke, Bach", Alma stood up with her arms crossed, "My mother was a huntress and people die around her. The least anyone can do for people like her is to help them carry on."

"What are you?", Bach scoffed, "An unlicensed therapist now? Sharing is caring?"

"You prefer an actual psychiatrist?"

"Nope, can't afford it", Bach pushed himself up with a weary smile, "Guess I'll have to settle for a pair violent ears."

Alma shook her head slightly, looked at the time on her scroll and began walking toward the Academy. Bach quickly followed suit as his stomach was also began to rumble and the cafeteria has a nasty habit of running out of the good stuff early. As they arrived at the back entrance, Alma pushed the emergency door open.

"I'm a bit surprise that you'll turn violent when depressed…", she motioned him to go in first, "…was expecting you to be drowning in alcohol instead."

"Hey, drinks are for me to face my problems not drowning them out. I think that's the difference between alcoholism…", he quickly walked through the door frame, "…and crippling alcoholism."

* * *

"So there are over-sexualized underage girls…"

"Yes, but not in all of them!"

Liz laughed and made another shot with the cue which almost scored in one of the side pockets. Eric, on the other hand, was practically a tomato that was taking very deep breaths to calm down and hide his obvious embarrassment. He leaned in for his turn as the faunus stepped back from the table.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Well, I can see why Bach likes to annoy you", she giggled, "but you know, Anime does sound kind of interesting."

"You think so?", Eric's head perked up from the green table.

"Yeah, you said there's many different genre of Anime so I guess there's a historical section in it?"

"Yeah but I don't think they stay very true to the source material…", Eric's eyes went up and to the side as he tried to remember a good historical Anime.

"Well, seeing different interpretation is part of the fun with history", Liz shrugged and lined up her shot.

"Wow…", his head snapped back toward the small faunus, "…didn't…expected that from-

"Me?", she straightened up right away and turned to Eric.

"Y-yeah…"

"What? You think I'm basic?", she marched right up to Eric with a finger jabbing at his chest.

"Err-uhmm…I-I…don't…", the word as was stuck at the back of his throat along with the heat that was rising up there, "I-

Eric word was stopped short as his nose was suddenly hit by the finger that was on his chest a split second ago.

"Just kidding", the faunus was wearing a mischievous grin on her face, "I get that all the time."

"Well, you and Bach will get along nicely", Eric was rubbing his nose, looking quite annoyed.

"Aw, don't be mad", she patted him on the back.

Eric let out a long sigh before hearing the rumble from his stomach which made both of them looked at a nearby clock. Realizing that's dinner time was coming; the both agreed to call it a draw and ended the game.

"You go find us a table, I'll clean this up", Liz motioned for Eric to go ahead which he quickly obliged and rushed out of the game room.

As she was putting some of the ball into the six pockets alone, a thin boy with green Mohawk approached.

"You know I could give you a much better lesson in billiard", his voice was low and flirtatious.

"Well, I'll consider it for later", she turned to walk toward the other end of the table, where the rest of the balls were.

"How about now?", he moved in front of her which made Liz recognized him as Russel, one of Cardin teammate.

With contempt on her face, Liz scoffed, lined up the cue then proceed to make a shot that could be heard across the room. The white began to ricochet from one ball to another and by the time it had stopped; Liz had already knocked half of what was left on the table down. She handed the stick to the stupefied Russel with a chuckle before making her way toward the door.

"You can clean up the rest", she said without looking back before leaving the game room.


	21. Chapter 21: Ups and Downs

"This is a Volkswagen Jetta", Eric ran his along the hood lovingly, "She has a 150 Horsepower, 1.4L Turbo and 40 MPG engine. It's practically a mini R8!"

He turned at the end and made an elaborate gesture toward the car like it was a circus act which only elicited a short applause from Liz. On the other hand, her twin was looking pretty impatience next to an undead who was very distracted with his scroll. They were all gathered on the roof of the dormitory looking at Eric and his short sleeves shirt, khaki pants that were 1 size too big and a pair of running shoes. Alma was in a pair of jeans, a form fitting T-shirt and her usual combat boots while her twin was wearing short shorts with a sleeveless blouse and loafers; her long hair tied into a ponytail. Bach was less proper than the rest of his team with his flip flops, cargo shorts and a big Hawaiian T-shirt. It was abit hot that day.

"Eric, why are we spending our Friday afternoon talking about cars?", Alma tapped her feet impatiently, "We're supposed to be doing team exercises right now..."

"Aren't we already doing this together as a team?", came her sister's bubbly voice.

"This is fine…", Bach chimed in with out looking away from the job listing on his scroll, "…as long as he doesn't start moaning about the interior he can't afford."

"Screw you, Bach."

"Alright, aright", the team leader pinch theb ridge of her nose and sighed, "Just get to the point, Eric."

He nodded and, with a practice motion of his fingers, proceeded to summon tendrils of golden light from the air which began to coalesce into a small bicycle next to the car.

"So as I was saying", he continued, "This is a Volkswagen Jetta and this abomination with wheels is a bike-

"And the sky is blue!"

"Shut up, Bach! Anyway, despite the difference in sizes, I could only make them last for at most three minutes."

"That's the name of your sextape!"

"I swear I'm going to have you executed, Bach!", Eric said through gritted teeth as Liz laughed and Alma rolled her eyes.

"So, are you saying you found a way to extend the duration?", the team leader spoke when the laughers finally die down.

"Yes, kinda, but I need Bach to give me a hand."

"Dude, I don't have any viagra in this bottomless box."

"Kill yourself, Bach", he raised the lantern toward Bach, showing a weak flame inside, "I need you to feed the bonfire, asshole."

"Ahhhh, I see", Bach chuckled as got up and walked toward his friend.

He quickly undid the latch and opened the small hatch to get a closer look to the bonfire within. The small flame was flickering as soon as air flowed into the chamber, threating to fade out and leave behind nothing but the ashes it was resting upon. Bach willed a cluster of souls to his hand and quickly shoved it into the waiting bonfire. The ember swirled into a torrent as with renewed vigor and clashed against the glass, intending to spill out through any crack.

"You know, I've been wondering what kind of souls you use to feed that flame", Liz tilted her head to get a better look at the flame.

"Just some grimm souls", Bach said nonchalantly, "They don't have a lot of things going on in their heads, mostly memories of being hungry, thirsty and fried by Beacon's electric fence."

"Huh."

"So, what the solution?", Alma asked.

"Well, it's not how can make things last longer", Eric picked up a nearby ceramic pot that he'd prepared beforehand, "It's kind of what can last longer than other?"

He put the pot down in front of everyone and stepped back a bit. Slowly, tendrils of lights began sprouting from the dirt, twisting and weaving into one another until the form of a small plant could be seen. With a final flash, the sapling solidified with a full complement of leaves, bark and roots.

"This tree can stay solid for longer?", Liz asked as the car and the bike dissolved behind Eric.

"Yes..."

"For how long?", Alma was looking intrigued.

"That's the thing...I don't know", Eric scratch his head, "I got bored and made a tree yesterday in front of the dorm and it's still there, right now, in the garden."

"Hmm..."

They all went silent for a moment, trying figure out what was different between the tree and every other objects made by Eric. They even look over the railing to check the tree Eric plant in the front yard to see if there was anything in common between the two that was out of the ordinary. Alas, aside from them being the same kind of tree, there was nothing special about them.

"Have you tried checking the soil?", Liz spoke up first.

"What?"

She pointed at the pot which made the rest of the team realize that the dirt inside had already turned into sand. Bach immediately pulled out a pair of old bronze binocular to take a closer look at the tree in the yard, its roots specifically.

"Yep, there's also sand around that thing's root", he turned around and check Eric's lantern which was already housing a very weak ember inside.

Bach promptly refueled the bonfire before telling everyone to take a step back from the potted plant. With a flick of his finger, he summoned a small fireball in his hand.

"What are you trying to do?", Alma asked.

"Following the scientific method and testing my hypothesis", he shrugged before throwing it at the small plant, "If this works, Eric is going to be a mother."

To almost everyone's surprise, the fireball didn't burn the tree immediately. Instead, the flame danced on its leaves for a few second before being literally sucked into the barks and left behind a slightly bigger and healthier plant. Then, the leaves began to spew out small embers around its edges while its roots were beginning to spill out of the clay pot.

"What did you do?", Liz was looking quite amazed by the fireproof plant.

"More like what did Fina do...", he turned to his friend, "I guess she'd just made you the new witch of Izalith."

"You're not making sense, Bach", Alma frowned as things got more confusing.

"Ok quick history then", Bach took a deep breath, "There's this flame, call it First Flame Jr., it creates life and stuffs. Then one day, a lady fucked it up, now it only spits out demons and turning other people into demons. The demons are also pretty hot, literally since they're on fire all the time and also figuratively if you're the adventurous type.

Well, its main thing used to be making up stuffs and a pseudo bonfire; it's a part of the First Flame after all", Bach clicked his tongue, "I think it's part of your soul now."

"So what? I'm some kind of demon making machine now?"

"I don't know, you need a lot of fuel for that though, and no way I'm giving you that much", the answer made Eric let out a sigh of relieve, "The thing that's puzzling me is why the three minutes on everything else."

"Because a car isn't a living thing and can't feed itself?", Liz suggested.

"Hmmm...", Bach tapped his chin, "that… actually…make a lot of sense."

"Well, can't leave these demon trees around", Alma turn her gaze from the tree on the yard to the flaming plant, "Someone could get hurt."

"I don't know, I think this one is kinda cute", Liz picked up the plant and staring the flames on its leaves, dancing like candles in the wind.

"Really?", Eric said with a smile on his face and the pride in his voice.

"Can we keep it?"

"Like a pet?", Alma raised an eyebrow.

"Pretty please?"

Alma looked at the her sister's puppy dog eyes then to the small burning tree which was looking quite amusing its two tiny flaming leaves at the top. The thing was even bobbing from side to side slightly as the wind blew across the roof.

"Alright, alright", the slightly older faunus sighed, "But you're responsible for it, okay? You and Eric."

Liz and Eric nodded profusely as the leader pinched her nose bridge. Bach gave the big tree below a quick glace before turning back to the team.

"Guess I'll go chop the big one tonight", he shrugged.

"Guess so…", Alma gave her approval then look at the fiery plant in her twin arms, "How are you two going to water or…feed that thing?"

"It grew when Bach threw a fireball…"

"Nah, Bach's gonna forget to feed it…", Eric shook his head.

"Well, if you have such little faith in me, how about…", the undead held out one of his hand with a bit of flair like a magician, "…I teach you two the way of FIRE!"

As the words left his mouth, a fiery geyser sprouted from his palm for several seconds before he closed his hand and extinguished it. His fingers opened again to reveal a small flame flickering which wasn't burning his hands at all, a fact that still amazed Liz even now.

"People can actually learn this?", Alma was looking quite skeptical

"Just some of the basic first, so I don't have to take care of the plant", he extended the flaming palm, "C'mon, anyone who wants to have a try, hold out your hand."

Liz put the plant down and reached out excitingly, quickly followed by Eric and finally Alma who looked a bit reluctant before thrusting out her hands. Bach proceed to hovered his palm over each of theirs, leaving behind a small ember burning in each one. Eric flinched when the fire was put in his hands but soon realized that it didn't burn but instead gave off quite the comfortable warmth.

"Aww, I know you like Franky", Liz smiled at her twin.

"No, I just want to learn his flame thingy", her denial didn't sound very convincing, "and shouldn't I get a say in naming it?"

"It's called Pyromancy", Bach chuckled and took a deep breath, "And EVERYBODY LINE UP!"

Hearing the sudden drill sergeant voice, the trio was spooked into a line and turned to face the team's undead who was already holding an angular shield made out black metal. A pair of stone pants was also being pulled out from his right pocket.

"Is that really necessary, Bach?", Eric asked.

"We're dealing fire and possible explosion", Bach said as he pulled Havel's legging up to his waist, "Y'all need to do some testing to gauge the potential damages."

"By throwing fireballs at you?"

"Yes, you are", Bach snapped the armor inner belt in place, "I just got the bill for the broken dummies last night and by Buddha's sagging tits, I don't want to be responsible for any more property damages."

"OKAY….", Liz hollered, "Let's get to how am I going to use this flame in my hand."

Bach nodded and promptly got into a firm stance with his shield raised while beckoning Liz to take position in front of him. Everyone else took a seat on one of the ventilation pipes.

"Right, its mostly your instinct but try imagining your souls as a great ball of energy", he began to repeat the words of a long dead pyromancer in his head, "then let that energy course through your vein toward your flame. Feed it with power but hold it back with your mind, compress in to the orb in your hand."

As he talked, Liz focused her eyes on the fire before her as she willed her souls according to his words. Her aura flows towards the fire and the girl began to feel a strange pressure as her mind tried to hold it within the imagine barrier that she put up around it. She looked at Bach as the fire began to feel uncontrollable and he nodded with his shield ready. Liz drew her arm and threw the fireball. It crashed against the black metal and the resulting explosion was only the size of a soccer ball.

"Aw, it thought it'll be bigger", Liz stomped her feet lightly.

"Well, A. that literally what she said, and B. that's good enough", Bach wave his hand to clear the air of smoke, "If the plant is going to be in our room, I wouldn't recommend huge explosion."

"Ok", she shrugged and went back in line for Eric to take his turn.

The whole process repeated as the firekeeper got in front of the raised shield, spent few seconds focusing and threw a fireball. The explosion this time was a bit bigger, even forcing the undead to take a step back to keep his balance. However, the cloud of smoke left behind this time was a lot thicker and the carvings on the black shield also lit up like embers for a while. After a few more tries, everyone agreed that Eric shouldn't be feeding the plant unless they want to trigger the fire alarm on a daily basis. Alma was the next.

"Hey, Bach", her eyes stared at the ember in her palm as she stood in front of the undead.

"Yeah?"

"In that list you gave me, didn't you say emotion affect pyromancy power?"

"That ability list? Yeah…well, they say pyromnacy strength depends on your instinct and I think emotion is a major part of it, kinda like how you perform better when you're confident."

"So if I was angry, the fireball is going to be bigger, right?"

"Well any strong emotion would do but yeah, anger would do."

"Pissed me off then."

Bach turned at Eric and Liz, who was equally confused as him, then back to the Alma who was wearing an expectant look on her face. He clicked his tongue and let his gaze drifted for a bit, trying to make some sense out of the weird and sudden request.

"Are you…"

"I know what I said, Bach, just remind me of something infuriating."

"Okay, sure…remember when our team was almost put on probation cause I sent Cardin to the infirmary for a week?"

"I actually felt pretty good about that. The guy was a douche."

"How about the time your white clothes got mixed with the colored stuff in the washing machine?", Liz chimed in from her seat.

"That was…quite annoying…"

"How about that time I accidently mixed your white blouse with my laundry?"

"That was my blouse, Bach", Liz deadpanned.

"To be fair, you two have wear the same size...and is this working, I think?"

"No, but it's getting annoying", Alma placed a hand on her hip as she shifted her weight from one leg to another, impatiently.

"Maybe we should tell something she didn't know?", Eric suggested.

"No. No. Nooooo, if you're thinking what you're thinking then stop thinking it, mate."

"It's not like you're selling them anymore", there was this wide grin on Eric's face.

"Selling what? What are you two talking about?", the team leader spun back and forth between Bach and Eric, trying to make sense of the exchange.

"Nothing impor-

"He sells booze to the first years", with a raised finger, Liz stopped Bach from dismissing the topic, "Well…used to, he had to stop when extra Atlesian securities and surveillance came in on Monday."

"He's been doing this since when?"

"After the first week of the semester", Eric stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Before now, who else knows about this?", the faunus asked slowly, the restraint in her voice was straining.

"Pretty much every student in Beacon…", Bach was trying to hide as much of himself as possible behind the shield, "…except you."

"I think it's working", Liz whispered to Eric who was trying his best to hide the smile creeping up on his face.

Frowning, Alma slowly turned to the ember in her hands. It was now a roaring inferno, constantly crashing against the invisible barrier built by her mind. She smiled wryly at the flame and turned to give Bach such the dirty look that he found his himself gripping the shield as if it was a lifeline. Alma drew back her arms like a professional baseball player and threw the best pitch she'd ever done, at least according to Liz and Eric. The crowd went wild and Bach could only manage a curse in his mother tongue before the fireball crashed into the blackened shield.

* * *

"You are all young adults here, so I'll only say it once", Glynda glared at the whole of team JNPR and RWBY who was caked in all kind of food, "No. More. Food. Fight. Or else, you'll b-

A loud boom interrupted the lecture and made the combat instructor looked out the large glass panel of her office, toward the column of smoke on the dormitory roof. She sighed audibly before stomping her way behind the desktop monitor to start flipping through the security feeds.

"Oh my…", Pyrrha cover her mouth with a face full of concerned.

"Did you mess with my dust containers again?", Weiss whipped her head around to Ruby.

"No, I did not", the girl protested then tap her indexes together nervously, "…well…maybe…"

"That wasn't any of you…", the professor exhale sharply as she leaned against the table with her elbows and buried her head in her hand.

Before any of the students in the room could hear the low groaning behinds her palms, Glynda's scroll rang, drawing everyone's eyes to it. The teacher leered at it with one eye through her finger for a few second before picking it up with a frustrated sigh. She swallowed quickly and answered.

"This is Glynda Goodwitch speaking…yes, Kozlov, I think everyone saw it…it's team ABEL…I'll come over th- I see…I'll let you handle this then…", she finally hang up, sighed and turned to the food-covered students, "You can go for now, I will send your disciplinary action later."

After all members of the two teams had finally left, Glynda slumped back on her chair and began to pulled up bunch of documents on her desktop, all were templates for damage reports. Low grumbling about student management and salary could be heard as she filled in the forms on her computer.

* * *

Lisbet blinked once, twice and for a third time before the world stopped blurring around her vision like a messed up oil painting. She tried to shake away the ringing in her ears before pushing herself up to a sitting position to look around for her teammates and her sister. Eric was found crawling right next to her, having also been knocked down from their seat on the ventilation shaft. The faunus reach out and help him up before both looked over the metal shaft.

Alma was on the floor, leaning against her arms with all of her upper body while her jaw was agape with a mixture of shock and awe. She was laying in front a huge scorch mark on the floor with a thick column of black smog rising up toward the sky, reaching at least 7 meters. However, Bach, who was at the center of the blast, was nowhere to be found.

"Holy…Shit…", Eric blurted out.

"Did you just vaporize Bach?", Liz asked, trying to process what just happened.

"I…don't…know."

"Wait…over there!"

Liz pointed toward two parallel skid marks on the ground, passed the dissipating smoke, starting from the center of the explosion. As air cleared up even further, the three was able to see that the lines led to a broken section of the roof railing, seemingly bent outward as if torn apart by a projectile. They looked at each other for a brief moment before getting up and scrambling toward the railing.

Although there were a lot of student looking back at them from the courtyard, there was no sign of Bach being tossed down, not even a splash of blood on the green grass. However, as what's left of team ABEL tried to squint harder, their scroll began to vibrate in their pockets. Looking at the screen, they found a new message in their team group chat.

 _Straight Down_

Straight below where they were stand was an old brick building extending from the ground floor like a half-circle bulge covered in moss. The half-cone that roof was made up of neatly arranged red tiles which stood out from the more modern dormitory. However, there was a large hole in the orderly rows roof tiles in which a pair of stone boots could be seen. It seemed that the railing had broken Bach flight path into a 90 degrees turn straight down toward the building below. Another message quickly followed.

 _Alma, either you got talent or issues, or both._

"Wait…", Liz spoke before they could all breathe a sigh of relieve, "…that's the forge."

"The quartermaster's master forge?", Alma double checked the building, "Oh dust! It is."

"I think we need to get back in our room…", Eric's eyes darted around nervously, "…and act like we're never a part of this."

"What about Bach?", Alma protested, "We can't just leave him there."

"Sister, please, we've just knocked a hole in Kozlov's Kingdom", Liz pulled her twin away from the railing.

Alma finally relent with a sigh and all three living member of team ABEL ran as fast as they could.

* * *

 _Good luck_

"Good luck?", Bach raised an eye at the screen in his only free, wondering why his friends sent him that.

He was crushed under an amalgamation of broken support beam, metal robot arms and what seemed to be weapons. It was the painful predicament as he had no aura to stop some of the sword, daggers and broken metal from impaling a few holes in his body, where he didn't bother to wear any upper armor. He couldn't even pull some of them out due to the debris so it was pointless to reach for his unreachable estus.

"At least it was as bad as the damn initiation ritual", he mumbled.

Bach craned his neck to looked around the room he was in to hopefully distract himself from the crappy situation until the rest of ABEL was there to pull him out. He was surrounded by a plethora of both traditional and modern smithing tools arrange in workstations positioned in a semi-circle in front of a large industrial furnace. Each of these stations includes a large anvil, a set of hammers, a set of tongs, large robotic utility arms that extend from the ceiling, a solid metal table and a large water trough.

"...fucking…hell…", Bach finally realized where he was and let his head leaned back the ground in resignation.

He quickly heard the door opened and a thick Russian like accent bellow through the air.

"Look who's decided to **drop by** my little shop."


	22. Chapter 22: Slavic Magic

"So, team ABEL wish to sign up for Kozlov's famous training regimen, yes?", the hearty Slavic accent couldn't mask the apparent sarcasm, "Will be expensive but you can afford it, I presume."

Bach sighed as the quartermaster went through the charade of describing all the expense involved, salting the wound was presumably one his favourite hobbies. The training regimen was notorious in Beacon but not due to its obvious difficulties nor the ridiculous compulsory fee associated with it. The reason was its usage as the punishment for anyone who'd earned the ire of its muscle bound mastermind, Grigory Kozlov, who would also act as the dreaded instructor. The last team that went through the training regimen came out with the worst photos on Remnant's version of Facebook, and they never wanted to eat an apple ever again; nobody knows why. Some naïve students usually wondered why no one had ever refused to join the regimen; they'd obviously never seen the quartermaster in person.

"…of course, uniforms are needed for training regiment, I will send bill later…"

The man was a 150 kilogram and 2 meters slab of muscle on two legs that were built like two column of solid concrete, stomping back and forth as the Russian-like accent echoed across the forge. His arms were also huge with massive scars as if the guy had been bench-pressing bears instead of weights since he was a kid. His face looked a grizzled biker with his brown moustache connected to a goatee, black headband covering his whole head and a pair angry green eye. However, the rest of him looked more akin to a really mad fitness instructor with a pair of black track pant with three long stripes running along its length, plain black T-shirt that's a bit too tight and not a single tattoo on his white skin.

"…now just need to put team signature here, here and initials here", Kozlov was finally done milking it and a pen was offered along with the 50-page contract toward the young undead.

Bach took the stack of paper but refrained from signing right away, instead, he started flipping through the document. His eyes stopped at one of the last pages and an audible sigh could barely be heard. He was looking the total price for enrolling in to the training regimen and the monthly fees, and it was painful. His team might as well wire their future missions earnings directly to the forge if this was signed and this bullshit was not worth throwing away all his booze money.

His eyes began to wander to the surround workshop in hope of something that would get his team and his wallet out of this disaster. After a few seconds of scanning the messed up workshop, something caught his attention. A large pile of damaged weapons was sitting near the storage door with a small sign nearby that said: "maintenance orders". The gears in his head turned for a bit before Bach swallowed hard and attempted to make the bargain of his life.

"I have a better idea, mate; a proposition, in fact."

"You have proposition?", the quartermaster looked down at the short kid for a second and gave him an amused smile, "Go ahead then."

"How about I work as your assistance for free? Looks like you need some help."

"There are many weapons needing major repair lately…damn reckless kids…", Kozlov scratch his bearded chin, "…but even for free, why would I hire bumbling fools as assistance."

"Because I can fix all of them in 10 minutes", Bach jab his thumb toward the pile damaged weapons.

"Really?"

"C'mon, you saw how I fixed fatal wounds with a bottle of gold water 10 minutes ago. I think that counts for something."

The giant scoffed and waved a hand toward the maintenance pile, telling Bach to go ahead. The undead strolled toward the weapons and began to pull 4 rings out of his right pocket, all depicting a scholar. When the rings were firmly on his left hand fingers and long staff was taken out of his pocket in a similar fashion. With his tools at hand, Bach stood in front of the pile and picked up a intricate but heavily chipped and cracked sword. A short incantation made the staff glow and he ran it along the blades, restoring the metal to its pristine condition as if nothing has happened. He did the same for the rest of the pile, drinking some blue estus when needed, and proceeded to fix them all in under 8 minutes. He stood aside for the quartermaster to examine work.

Kozlov picked up the first sword that had been fixed and rotated the blade around get a better look. He activated the transforming mechanism, turning it into a bladed pistol, and then, turned it back into its original form. Then without a word, he smashed the edge against the nearby anvil. The ringing could even be heard throughout the hallway beyond the shop's counter. He looked at the main blade again, now bent and cracked, and turned his gaze down toward the anvil, spotting a miniscule chip on it metal surface.

"Double minimum wage."

"I'msorryWat?"

"I said, you're hired", the man turned to Bach with a wide grin, "Double minimum wage, full benefits, and you start right now. I will send detailed schedule tomorrow."

"Oh, wow…", Bach was taken aback by the generous offer, "…so what do want me to do now?"

"Go pick up my shipment from warehouse", the quartermaster handed him a slip of paper.

"Sure, okay, I'll…wait a minute…", Bach's eye narrowed as he read the receipt, "…it's all the way downtown, in Vale."

"Yes and if you're quick, last train might be there."

* * *

"…aaaaaaaaaaand I missed the last fucking train."

"So you walked all the way up here with that gigantic crate?", Eric asked.

"Yep…and it took the whole bloody night", Bach laid his head on the shop's counter, "…and he wants me to man the damn workshop till 10."

It was already early Saturday morning and the two friends were talking across the workshop front desk and above was a newly-made sign that said "Speed Repair" with a list of time which the new service is available. Around them in the dormitory hallway, the more diligent students began filing out of their room. Jaune's shaky voice could be heard from down the hall as the boy tried his best to asked Weiss out for the coming dance. He had turned his proposal into a love song that was quite grating on Bach's insomniac ears.

"You know…", Eric pulled his attention away from the song and took a picture of Bach with his scroll, "…that still doesn't explain…whatever the fuck you're wearing."

"Yeah…about this…", Bach pushed himself back up and look down at his uniform.

On his head was a pair of fake fluffy bear ears that were hot pink and adorned with a bunch of plastic flower of many other colours. Bach was also wearing matching pink polo shirt and shorts which was covered by a long apron. Said apron was also pink with large childish scrawling that said: "Caring is Repairing."

"Motherfucker said uniforms are mandatory for his staffs, so he got me one…", the undead took a deep breath, "…designed by his 5 years old niece."

"Well, shit."

"No, shit."

There was a short silent before the moment was interrupted by another love song from another student, desperate for a dance partner.

"You know, I've been curious…", Bach leaned against the counter to get a better look at the new romance victim, "…when the fuck are you going to ask Liz out, mate?"

"W-wha-w-what the hell are you talking about?", Eric neck began to turn red.

"Dude, you've been head over heel for her since the second week", Bach scoffed slightly, "She's pretty much your type, isn't she? Petite, cute, spends a lot of time with ya, not a permanent powder keg like her sister and most importantly, cat ears. I know you weebs like catgirls."

"I regret being friend with you for so long. Besides, her being my type doesn't mean I'm h-

"Don't blame the friendship, blame the booze, buddy", He leaned forward with his elbow resting on the counter, "And to be honest, it's kinda creepy how to you keep staring at her secretly and you've been practicing billiard for thefor a while. You know, since that pool game you two had."

"How the fuck did you even know about me practicing?"

"I don't sleepand you make a lot of noise getting out at night, dumbass."

Eric sighed and clicked his tongue.

"Can you just keep it a secr-

"Yes…but please, just ask her out before things get stupidly annoying like that _'will they, won't they'_ game Pyrrha and Jaune are playing every morning from across the hall."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Do you have any bright ideas? It's not like I have any experience in this sort of stuff."

"The dance", Bach answered immediately, "Just ask her to be your date."

"You serious?"

"Yes, just do it normally and don't be like that", Bach point to another first year who was begging in front of another team's door, "It's not the end of the world, mate."

"Well, no shit Sherlock", Eric scratched his head, "…but seriously, my high school wasn't even close to this bad."

"Neither was mine", Bach shrugged.

"Well, I guess I'll go and upload this photo on the internet", Eric sighed and turned away.

"Hold the fuck up, son", Bach quickly grab him by the shoulder, "I didn't call you here to only photograph my misery and get dating advices."

The undead proceed to pull out a big plastic bag from under the counter and put three packages inside before handing it to Eric.

"What's this?"

"This…is Liz's, Alma's and your uniform; they're not gonna fit…", he put a folder in Eric's other hand, "…and this is the shifts schedule. Good fokkin luck, mates."

"Well, shit."

* * *

Liz twisted her body to the left and used the metal arch of her bow to push her sister's red tongfa past her side just as a jet of flame burst out of its exhaust. She parried another fiery attack and countered with a swing of her bow which was swiftly dodged and left her wide opened. The next punched was explosive as the red tongfa connected fully with her midsection, launching her through the air in an arch across the ring. As her body hit the ground, Liz roll right back to one knee and release three dust arrows before her twin could rush in.

With a nimble step to the side, Alma slipped between two of the coming projectiles only to have them explode in a bright flash right next to her. Liz wasted no time drawing her bow and letting loose another arrow at her dazed sister then another one and another one. One after another, they slammed into her sister's aura and dissipate into a fine mist of green blue dust, knocking the older twin back step by step.

Liz kept the pressure on with each arrow but she knew this would only last until her sister got frustrated enough and just power through. Alma wasn't very good at pulling her punches; her practices with Bach were a great example of that problem. However, at this range, Liz would enjoy her little advantage at range as much as she could. The younger twin gave her sister a fiendish grin and let loose another arrow, this one packed a little bit more dust and aura than normal.

Just as the arrow was about to made contact, it was suddenly swatted away by what seemed to be a giant fan made out of red hot flame, extending from tip of one tong fa. Using her other arm, Alma threw punch that formed into fireball flying right at the younger twin. Liz tried to roll out of the way but as her eyes followed the blazing orb, a girl in a short white cloak was standing directly in the path of the fiery projectile.

"LOOK O-

The fireball was deflected upward by bubble of purple energy, resulting in a massive explosion that forced everyone in the gym to hit the ground. By time her vision cleared, Liz found the same girl stand in front on her twin with a thin long sword in hand and her body stiffened. She recognized the tail sprouting out of the back of the girl's trouser.

* * *

As her vision cleared, Alma realized she was staring at a pair of silver greaves as she was crawling back up to a sitting position. The glint of a long sword off to the side forced her to look up instantly and staring back down was Yorshka face, her emotion unreadable. The half-breed startled her when she dropped down to look at the faunus in the eyes. Alma's grip on Red Guards, remained tense until the girl in white laid her long sword on the ground and extend a hand forward. The faunus grabbed it, expecting to be pulled to her feet only to have her hand wrapped in both of Yorshka's.

"Thou hast inheriteth the flame of chaos. Embrace thy power and thy emotion for they are great but shackle them with thy mind", the half-breed spoke, her ethereal voice calmed and commanding, "For a flame born of pure instincts wilt give thee naught but regret."

With that, she stood up and walked toward the locker room, leaving Alma to sit there and feel a bit confused about the whole situation. She didn't have much time to mule over the words as her sister was already by her side.

"Are you alright, sis?", Liz offered a concerned hand, "What was that all about?"

"I don't know…", Alma took her sister's hand and pulled herself off the ground, "…I think…she just gave me advice on pyromancy…"

She glanced at the locker room then turned back to her younger twin.

"…never mind…", she sighed, she can think about the assassin in disguised later, "…did you get hurt anywhere?"

"No…", Liz double checked her leg and back, "…but did you really have to pull out the fireball?"

"I-I wasn't trying to…", she scratched the back of her head with brows furrowed, "It… just happened."

"Really? Guess we'll have to ask Bach about this", Liz shrugged, "But it was kinda-

"THAT WAS AWESOME!", Nora's loud voice was unmistakable, especially when it's so close to Alma's face, "YOU WERE LIKE FROOOHMM! AND BOOOOM! AND THEN EVERYTHING WAS RINGING AN-

"Sorry, she had too much energy drink this morning…", Ren was struggling to cover his childhood friend's mouth, "…but seriously, that was pretty amazing. Was that your semblance?"

"No, I still make small light bulbs", she made a few glitter in the air to illustrate her point, "It's-

"Did you upgrade your weapons?", Alma couldn't even see Ruby coming before she was already grabbing her arm to have a closer look at the tonfa, "let me guess, high explosive rounds? Is it custom made? What's the caliber? Were you testing it on the roof yesterday? What kind of dust are you using f-

"Slow down", Alma held up both her hand to calm down the young huntress, "I can't really afford an upgrade for Red Guards. It's just a trick I learned from Bach, yesterday."

She produced a small ember between her fingers for everyone to see.

"Well, I'm still getting the hang of it…didn't really have the chance to ask more…"

"We kinda abandoned him in Kozlov's workshop", Liz was looking a bit guilty, "We haven't seen him since."

Even Nora was silent as they all spared a moment of silence for their fallen comrade who had bravely taken one for the team.

"Guys!", and the moment was broken by Eric's voice.

He was strolling toward the group with a folder and a bag in his hand, and his face wasn't looking so pleasant.

"Did you find Bach?", Liz asked.

"Yeah and I got good news and bad news."

"Good news first", Alma made her choice right away.

"Well, I found a job with pretty good pay", Eric gave a reluctant look and handed his teammates the items he had been holding, "The bad news is: we're all hired."

Everyone examine the cloth bundles in the bag then they took turns reading the paperwork in the folder. The group realized that the good quartermaster wasn't so keen on letting the rest of team ABEL off the hook for what happened to the dormitory roof.

"Well, it can't really as bad as the rumors, right?", Liz's voice didn't really inspire any hope for her sister.

"No, it's worse", Blake deadpanned as she turned her scroll to everyone, showing a picture of Bach in uniform, posted on the internet a few minutes ago.

"Nope!", Liz turned and marched out of the gym with her hands in the air.

"You have my condolence", Ren offered his calm but-not-very comforting words.

Alma sighed before gathering up all the dreaded items and gave it to Eric.

"Put it in our room, I'll catch up later."

Eric promptly did so while the group went back to do their own thing which was mostly refining their combat skill or trying to fit into the clothes they'd bought for the coming Vytal dance.

* * *

Liz heard the door clicked but she remained focused on finishing the 10th chapter her newest historical addition to her library. The dry and somber words were doing a pretty good job for her mood, but the frown wasn't really going away as the faunus sat on her bed.

"Good book?", rustled could be heard as Eric tried to cram the dreaded uniform into his closet, organizing wasn't the guys' strong suit.

"Uh huh"

"' _The Long Walk to Armageddon'_ doesn't sound like very happy book."

"It's a good read on how diplomatic failures led to the worst border conflict since the Great War", she said, her eyes never left the pages.

"Are a bunch of silly work clothes really that bad?"

Liz reluctantly put the book down and let out a sigh and turned her gazes turned to the pink t-shirt being held up by her friend. Her head slumped back against the bed frame as a slow groan came crawled out between her lips.

"You don't understand…", she straightened herself, "First year is supposed to be our debut as Huntsmen and Huntresses. We gotta look cool and awesome. I even studied fashion magazines! Do you know how boring they were?"

"Er…", Eric didn't even get the chance to answer properly.

"I even had to convince sis to get a makeover and burn most of her old clothes!"

"T-that's a bit extreme?", his question was answer by a picture on Liz's scroll, "…Okay… yeah, even for me that's horrendous."

"You know what make this worse? We were actually awesome. We took down a Deathstalker during the ceremony, Bach beat up a school bully, and we've even rescued actual Huntsmen. But all that's gonna show up in year book…", Liz took the shirt from Eric hands and held it up, "…is this…."

"You're exaggerating; it's not going be so b-

Liz pushed her scroll into his hand then proceeded to sat back down on her bed with a pout. On the screen was a collection of humiliating pictures from people who earned the ire of Kozlov.

"We will never live this down."

"Hmm…how many pictures of one dude in a tutu can they get?", Eric flipped through several pictures on Beacon's digital yearbooks before looking back to the faunus, "You really are upset about this, huh?"

"Ugh…Someone give this man a cookie!"

"Sorry…", Eric scratched the back of his head, clearly embarrassed, "…not really good at this…but being huntsmen aren't all about looks right?"

Liz looked up at as her friend was awkwardly trying to find a something for his hand to do other than fidgeting around.

"No…", she let out a sighed that almost sound like a low chuckle, "…do you know what makes a great huntsman?"

"Err…being good at his job."

Liz held up a ginger like a teacher talking to her student.

"Yes, but you'll also have to look good doing it too. People are supposed to feel both safe and awed with just a glance at a team of huntsmen", her face lit up with as she began to reminiscent an old memory, "They're supposed to feel inspired."

"Woah…"

"But now…", she picked up Franky the plant and began poking the non-flaming parts of its leaves, "…Team ABEL is going to look like a crappy bootleg children cartoon."

Liz look down at the plant on her lap and sighed.

"Guess our luck ran out…"

"To be honest, I think your luck ran out the moment you got team up with me and Bach", Eric sat down one of the chair as he talked.

"C'mon, you gotta stop beating youself up. You know…", she chuckled, "...even Bach said that you don't given yourself enough credit…"

"Really? That asshole said that?"

"Yeah, he said you keep making it sounds like you're an awful recruit despite almost getting in some elite group called the Warrior Platoon."

"sonuva…", he briefly mumbled under his breath, "Did he tell you what the Warrior Platoon was?"

"No…", Liz was bobbing slightly from side to side with the plant in her lap, "…but he made sounds like special forces."

There was a long sigh from Eric.

"What's that problem?"

"Nevermind…I'll just have a talk with that pilock later…", he sighed and as his eyes wandered across the yearbook again, a lightbulb lighted up in his brain, "H-hey, we can't fixed our image but maybe we can at least salvage yours."

Liz just raised an eyebrow at the young man, her voice suspicious, "How?"

"W-well, you could go to the prom-I mean Vytal dance…looking so great…maybe…it'll balance out with the whole situation…with these uniforms?", Eric stammered, "…a perfect dance, I suppose?"

"Eric, are…", Liz staring back at Eric with a devilish grin on her face, "…asking me to be your date to the dance?"

"W-wait…what? I didn't? D-did I? ju-Really? Shit…I-wait…", Eric began to turn into a lanky and panicking tomato in as his eyes wandered to find somewhere to hide, "…I…guess…so?"

Liz just pushed Franky into his lap. After letting the hungry plant gobble up an ember in her hand, the girl strolled across the room toward the guys closets and opened it. She looked around and scratched her chin a bit before speaking.

"You're going to need a suit though."


	23. Chapter 23: 5 Star Service

"Frucggrh!", the curse came out more like a gurgle as Cardin tried to keep the blood and teeth from going outside his mouth.

"Well, next time you decide to be a racist shithead to my friends", Bach was calmly wiping the blood off the pommel of Cardin's mace behind the workshop counter, "make sure I'm out of reach, mate."

The rest of Cardin usual posse struggled to hold the bleeding boy back before dragging him toward the infirmary. As they left, one of the boys even turned back to give the "I'm watching you" sign to Bach which didn't work very well with his nervous face.

"Well, you can still pay the bill and pick up your mace tomorrow!", Bach hollered across the hall before putting the newly polished weapon aside.

The sound of wood hitting a metal made him turn around to find Liz putting down a box of spare weapon parts to restock the shelves at the back of the shop, something she'll be doing every Wednesday till the end of the year. She was wearing a long skirt that resemble something her grandma would wear and an oversize sweater with the same "Caring is Repairing" slogan plaster in front. There was another pair of fake bear ear behind the real cat ears on her head and her hair was tied up into a bun due to the temperature inside the workshop, courtesy of the massive forge at the center.

"You'd think he'll stay away after that the first trip to nurse", she was looking amused by the small commotion caused by back latest customer.

"My shoddy win rate probably gave him some courage", Bach strolled over and began helping the faunus putting the parts into their respective places.

"Yeah, how did you end up with only 4 wins out 15 matches while having all that magical stuffs?

"It's Miracles, I don't have the Int for strong sorceries and to re-iterate my point for the umpteenth time: I can imitate the dead people in my head but it feels really awkward most of the time", his eyes wandered as he tried to recall recent events, "Well, except for that brief time in the dock but we all know how that went…probably have to figure this out in at some point."

"Or maybe you should stop spacing out in the ring", Liz tossed a gear into a box at the top of the shelves.

"You're starting to sound like Alma."

"Well, we're twins."

"Touché", Bach snapped his finger like he just remembered something and starting pulling out his scroll, "Did you agree on going to the dance with Eric?"

"Yeah", Liz looked up with a raise eyebrow, "Did he tell you about it?"

"Yeah, but I got this too", Bach extended his with the scroll turned toward her.

On it was the recent text conversation between Bach and Eric but for a long period, it seemed her date was the only one texting. It was a long series or messages that read:

 _OH SHIT_

 _SHIT_

 _HOLY FUCKING SHIT_

 _BACH_

 _I'M GOING TO HAVE PROM DATE_

 _FAK_

 _I MEANT_

 _DATE FOR THE DANCE_

 _BUT I NEED A SUIT THOUGH_

 _SHIT_

 _WHERE AM I GOING TO GET A NEW SUIT_

 _FAK_

 _IT COST SO MUCH_

 _CAN YOU LOAN ME SOME MONEY?_

 _FORGET IT, I DON'T WANT TO OWE YOU_

 _FUCK HOW AM I GOING TO AFFORD A SUIT_

 _BACH_

 _I'M SO SCREWED_

 _LIZ WILL REGRET THIS_

 _I'LL PROBABLY NEVER GONNA GET A CHANCE LIKE THIS EVER_

 _FUCK_

 _BACH_

 _RESPOND YOU ASSHAT_

"All that in caps?", the faunus chuckled.

"Oh, I messed with his scroll the other day", Bach shrugged.

"How long does this go on?", Liz kept on scrolling through the chat, clearly amused by the conversations, "I didn't know he'd panic like this?"

"Dude is kinda paranoid so he freaks out", Bach snorted, "Well, I'll send you the whole thing if you want."

"Yes, please", Liz answered as Bach put his scroll away.

"Now, I'll just have to help him find a suit, and lend him the money too."

"Really?"

"It's the Bro Code", Bach channeled his best old Shakespearean actors, "Thou shall be the greatest wingman when thy bro is in need of such assistance."

The statement made her chuckle a bit.

"Can I also get a copy of the Bro Code?"

"Nay, t'is forbidden for a lady to lay eyes on the sacred code of Brethren."

"Are you gonna talk like this all day?", Liz crossed her arm playfully.

"If this be thy will!"

"I'm quite pleased to see you enjoy yourself, my champion", their conversation was interrupted by a familiar yet rarely heard voice.

The two turn around to find Fina standing on the other side of the counter with an entourage of two Atlesian soldiers, her radiance emanating throughout the hall and attracting the attention of the students passing by. The goddess look a bit silly as her head was almost touching the "Speed Repair" sign but that did little to diminish her elegant and commanding presence. However, her clothing was quite modern this time around. The priestess dress was replaced by a white silk blouse and form fitting white pants, all decorated with intricate line of golden embroidery along the cuffs. Her smile was still as warm and comforting as the first time they saw her in Ozpin's office.

"What, do you need me to repair your old robe or something?", Bach walked up to his seat behind the counter after Liz assured that see can finish restocking alone.

"Nothing so trivial, child", she sat down on a chair that was retrieved in a timely manner by one of accompanying soldiers, "But I do have some information that your little group might find interesting."

"Oh, are we gossiping now?", Bach almost jumped when Liz suddenly appeared to the right with her question.

"It was not my purpose coming here but I am happy to oblige, dear", the goddess gave her a hearty smile, "These lovely gentlemen from Atlas was quite perplex by what your friend here have shown them so far."

"Well, a few pages about future events in really bad hand writing is always hard to believe", Liz commented.

"It's not the prediction that had them confused, dear, their scholars are trying to find out what exactly is an undead and the only expert on the undead is unfortunately beyond even my reach."

"Didn't you make me an undead?", Bach crossed his arm.

"I did indeed grant your wish but it was said expert who'd performed the deed."

"Wait, you wanted to be an undead?", Liz looked quite concerned for her friend mental health.

"I was drunk at the time and the wish was a bloody joke", Bach sounded quite peeved by the comment.

"I see", the faunus contemplated the idea for a second before looking back up to the goddess, "Are the Atlesian scientists trying to make undead of their own now?"

"Oh, aren't you a sharp one", Fina chuckled, "Yes, their superiors are quite eager to have their own undying soldier amongst that ranks. But pay them no mind, young lady. Looking at some security footage won't tell them much."

"Isn't this the kind of discuss best kept in private?", Bach jab a thumb at the guards standing beside goddess.

"Worry not, child, their lips are sealed", She turned to looked at the soldiers, "Right, gentlemen?"

"Yes", they smiled and said in unison.

The two students took a harder looked at the soldiers as their voices were strangely serene and monotonous at the same time. Behind the military helmet, their eyes were glossy, unfocused with what looked like a golden haze. They turned to look at each other before Bach narrowed his eyes at Fina.

"Cool trick, something you do this to all of your followers?"

"Worry not, dear. This wouldn't be something I'd do to my champion and besides, the curse made undead rather resistance to most of our powers. The greatest illusion of god was easily dispelled by one after all."

"So, what would you do to your champion?", he crossed his arm.

"It seems you're not very trusting of your patron. Do you find your predicament unsatisfactory?"

"Well, I guess I should be grateful for getting screwed over while I was intoxicated, losing the bachelor degree I was working on, never seeing my family again, never seeing my PC again, getting Alzheimer later down the line with a dash of going mental, not to mention, one of the few dear buddies I have was dragged in to this. Unsatisfactory?", Bach took a deep breath, "I'm. Still. Fucking. Salty. Honey."

"Ooooookay…", Liz quickly pushed herself between the two, "Well, why did you come here in the first place? You know, beside the gossip?"

"Yeah, just tell us before you touch another nerve", the undead sighed.

"Very well", the goddess proceeds, her smile unfazed, "The principle and his colleagues from Atlas is planning to ambush Cinder Falls when she attempts to enter the CCT tower during the Vytal dance."

"Wow that's huge, if they succeed, you might even get a reward for your tip", Liz looked excited for moment before tilting her head as she contemplated the thought, "But you're here for more than just giving us a heads up?"

"Indeed, dear, I'm afraid that these terrorist might take a more drastic and destructive approach since this is critical to their future plans. The Darkmoon company captain is also a cause for my concerns. Thus, I am asking my champion to safeguard the success of their mission."

"Isn't that a bit much, Ms. Fina? I know he's undead and all but I really don't think he's up to a task such as this and besides, wasn't he partly responsible for the results at the dock? No offense."

Bach just shrugged.

"Yes, he was quite unrefined but I can't shelter him at the expense of these fine men and women. His potential must not also be wasted and un-tempered."

"But-

The faunus was interrupted by as Bach put a hand on her shoulder.

"You know what I saw last Friday night while lugging Kozlov's stupid shipment up from Vale?" Bach's finger was tapping the counter as his mind went back to last week, "There was this guy with a blow horn trying to convince everyone that the giant ball of lighting I made was a sign from God. You know, your typical crazy homeless.

However, he's going to sound a lot less crazy when, let's say, some sort of divine champion jumped out of nowhere and started smiting the bad guys with the same bloody miracles to salvage a botched military operation. Religious propaganda 101, right?", Bach was looking quite smug as he talked.

"Well, you're quite an astute champion, child. I did made Eric and you my champions to spre-

"I refuse."

"Pardon me", the goddess raised her eyebrows slightly.

"One, these dudes are professionals and can take care of themselves. Two, my head didn't like the last aftermath very much. And three, why the hell would I want to miss out a party, even if it's just a glorify high school prom, just to get beat by some undead fanatics?", Bach looked at his friend for confirmation, "Back me up, homes."

"Not sure what homes is supposed to mean…but yeah, this is too serious for us, ma'am."

Just as she answered, a tiny white haze could be seen leaving the goddess hand toward Bach. The undead didn't jump back in time and the mist was absorbed entirely, immediately turning his face white with horror. Liz was about to ask when he just quickly stumble toward the nearest trash can and started hurling into the bin.

"Fuckin' ell, mate. How is it even physically poss-hufghdfgf", he couldn't even finish the sentence.

"What did you do?", Liz was glaring at the goddess whose smile seems to be as warm as ever.

"No need to be alarm, child", she held out a hand, telling the girl to calm down, "I did him no harm. It is only a reminder that you've been safeguard against much more unsavory memories compare to the few souls you recently acquired. I presume we now have understanding my champion."

"Yes! You can fuck off now…", Bach groaned and went back to hugging the bin, "I shouldn't have eaten those god damn steaks…"

"You should know, dear, I can also sooth th-

"We know you are capable pf many things Miss Fina", Liz pushed herself in front of the giant goddess, "But I think it's time for you to leave."

"Very well", she smiled and turned to leave with the enthralled soldiers in tow.

The little faunus glanced at her friends and cringed. The guy was looking like a drunken mess usually seen on the internet and the hot pink uniform didn't make it look any better in anyway. She sighed and quickly went to grab some water from the nearby cooler. A short moment later, her hand was on his back, patting away his urge to dry heave and guiding him to the cup of water.

"You're going to make this shop very popular", she joked.

"Meh, Kozlov has a monopoly anyway", Bach wiped the bile away with one hand then gulped down the water, "Guess I now know how William Wallace felt in his last moment…."

"Who's William Wallace?"

"A very manly dude in a skirt and Mel Gibson best meal ticket", the undead pushed himself up, cradling the bin with one arm, "I think we should get back to work."

Liz's eyes followed Bach as he walked pass her toward the furnace. He was brushing this off with the usual bravado but this wasn't one of the usual practice incidents where Alma accidently broke his arm or cracked his head. To the faunus, the looked on his face was the same as the morning right after the dock incident. She shook her head slightly.

"We'll have to tell the other about this."

"Obviously", Bach tossed the bin into the raging furnace before turning back with an annoyance on his face, "Now, how am I going to attend the party and run Fina little errand at the same time?"

* * *

Everything on the table shooked slightly as Eric banged his head repeatedly against the keyboard out the frustration that had been fuming in his head.

"There are better ways to get a concussion and less noisy too", came a calm and collected voice behind him.

He turned the swivel chair around to find Blake's with a book in one hand, undoubtedly annoyed by the noises. His eyes briefly scanned the rest of the library, catching quite a few people turning away with a sigh of relief as the head banging had stopped.

"Sorry", he sighed and hung his head, clearly embarrassed, "I'll go back to my room and let you get back to your book in peace."

"Well, I was actually going to talk to you about a few things", she leaned against the table.

"Hmm, really? What is it?", Eric perked up.

"Well firstly, Yang just got caught drinking so she's too afraid ask around for herself, but is Bach still selling alcohol?"

"Oh, he stopped since you the soldiers arrived, _too much security,_ he said."

"I see, and the other thing", Blake lowered her voice as she pulled a chair to sit down, "What is your connection with the White Fangs?"

"W-wa-what are you saying?"

"The others night, Sun and I was at the port because we suspect the White Fang were behind dust robberies and Ruby was trying to track me down", the young girl inched closer, "but you guys just show up at the perfect time to stop whole thing."

"W-w-well, we were…", his voice trailed off as he wished his idiotic friend was here to make up a perfectly reasonable excuse.

"Look…", she forcefully grabbed Eric's shoulder then, realizing her behaviors, she deflated, "I'm sorry…it's just that I have a history with the White Fang and I need anything that can help me stop them."

Eric looked at the faunus girl for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"I-I understand that it's means a lot to you and we do know something but-

"You can't. Why?"

"Because I think you will act on it and ruin Ozpin's plans."

"And do you know what the plan is?"

He shook his head nervously as his gaze fell to the hands around his shoulders. Blake, noticing, finally let go with face fill of dejection and slumped shoulders.

"Well...thanks for your help at the dock. I'll go and let you get back to…", her eyes caught the monitor as she stood up, "…are you looking for a suit?"

"Oh…yeah…kinda…."

"Who's the lucky dance partner?", she raised an eyebrow.

"Liz", a happy smile slowly crept up on his face as he unconsciously scratch his head, "But it's too close to the dance so nothing is affordable, even rentals."

His sigh was quite audible.

"You could try the tree of love…", Blake crossed her arm and leaned against the table.

"I'm sorry, the what?"

"Tree of love, that's what everyone's been calling it…", she didn't really looked like she believed what was about to come out of her mouth, "It's a tree that…help people get a date for the dance or improve their love life…"

"I didn't really think you believe in fairy tales", Eric looked at her like she'd grown another head.

"I don't really want to believe it myself but that tree is really old for something that's just appeared sometimes last week..."

"And that's going to help me find a suit?"

"Well, someone down the hall asked for a dress and it apparently appeared in a burst of flame", Blake shrugged.

"Really?"

"Yes, it happened yesterday. Here's a clip of it on the net."

The faunus showed him a video in which a girl was praying in front of a tree, at the head of long line of students. Suddenly, part of the bark explode and left behind what looked to be a quite a lovely dress.

"Wait a minute…you said it appeared sometimes last week, right?", Blake nodded, "Is it somewhere in front of the dorm?"

"Yes."

"Shit."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just someone forgot to take care of shomething and I need to make a call."

Eric held down the off button until the PC turned off and made his way out of the library as fast as he could, pulling out his scroll along the way.

* * *

"Sup care bear!", Yang said cheerfully as she walked up to the shop counter along with her sister in tow.

"Welp, here comes the comedian", Bach groaned audibly, "This has better not becomes a thing."

"It kinda has", the little red riding hood gave him a small pamphlet.

On it were the faces of team ABEL badly photo shopped on to four teddy bear and a large title, in what seemed to be Comic sans which reads: "Kozlov's Care Bears." This elicited a long sigh from the undead.

"He's really gonna make this un- **bear-** able for you guys, huh", the blonde leaned on the counter with her elbow and smile.

"Ugh", Bach groaned some more while Ruby put her giant scythe next to the armored gloves, giggling as she did so.

"But hey, looks on the bright side", she proceed to take off gauntlets and put them on the counter, "Alma said you get full **bear** -nefits."

This made her sister sniggered out laughing just as Bach scroll went off.

"For this, I'm gonna make you wait while I take this call", he shook the scroll at her before stomping into the back of the shop.

"AWW! Come back! I promised to **bear** -have", Yang hollered while her little sister burst out laughing.

"Are you guys bullying my teammate?", Liz's voiced made the sisters turned around.

She was still in her work uniform but there was an additional pair of fake bear ears on her head now, making the total number of ears on her head six. On her left hand was a cup of milk tea, probably bought from the coffee shop recently opened on campus. The three exchanged greetings as the faunus make her way behind the stall and put down her drink.

"So, just here for repairs or do you need anything else?"

"Two boxes of buck shots for me", Yang raised two fingers, "the XL ones."

"Anything for you, Ruby?", she leaned down to grab the ammo from the lower shelf.

"No, I'm good."

Liz put the boxes next to Crimson Rose which caught her eyes with its horrendously chipped and cracked blade. Even the shaft and the gears lining it were also in quite a rough shape with bent or outright broken sections.

"I thought was your baby?", the faunus raised an eyebrow, "Did you tossed it in a grinder or something?"

"I do! But, well...it was a bunch of grimm from our patrol mission…", Ruby leaned back a bit with a hand on her hip and frowned as she looked at the state of her darling, "…they were strange…"

"How so?"

"They looked like Beowolves…", the young girl put a hand on her cheek while resting the elbow on the other arm, "…but really weird. Their bones were jutting out all over their body and turned into some kind twisting spike armor. Then there's these weird black inky tendrils on their body that's way too tough for what they looked like."

"Don't forget the eyes", Yang chimed in.

"Yeah, some of them have a bunch of these bulbous eyes appearing randomly all over", Ruby visibly shuddered, "I'm still crept out by that."

"Huh….did you tell Ozpin about this?"

"Yep, in the report."

"Then I-

"Ok! I'll do something about it later!", Bach was quite loud and annoyed as he walked out of the storage, "I still have to finish my shift, mate…kay…see ya."

"What is it?", Liz asked as he strolled up to the counter.

"I'll tell you later, maybe Alma too", he waved off the question and turned to the sisters, "Let's just get your stuffs fixed."

"Thank you **beary** much", Ruby said gingerly and proceed to hive five her sister.

He groaned and proceeded to chant the repair spell with a staff pulled from of his pocket.


	24. Chapter 24: Al Capwned

"This is silly", Pyrrah muttered as she stared into the thick crown of the tree, "But…"

It was already well past midnight and the only thing to illuminate the dormitory front yard was the shattered moon of Remnant, drifting lazily across the night sky. Under its soft light was the proclaimed tree of love and the current Huntress in training champion, who was standing on the freshly cut grass in her brown pajamas. The girl was unable to decide if she was desperate enough to believe some recent ghost story and thus, a circular trail was made where her feet had be pacing back and forth.

"I should probably get back to sleep", she said but her feet were less decisive than her words, "…but what if it's true…"

"For Fok sake! Just ask what you came here to ask already!"

The word made her jumped and turned back to see a one of her fellow student, who was honestly quite annoyed at this point and obviously a bit chilly in his cargo short and T-shirt. She took a moment to settle down and greet the young man.

"Oh! H-hey Bach, what are you…", the words trailed off as her eyes wandered down to the large bearded axe in his right hand, "Are you going to chop down the tree?"

"Considering it", he shrugged, "Alma and everyone else is on the fence now since it got famous so they delegated the decision to me. I was gonna wait till you're done."

"Why do you guys want to chop it down in the first place?", Pyrrah glanced at the tree's thick trunk.

"Cuz it's a daemon tree", he leaned on the axe like a cane, "Eric planted it last week and I forgot to cut it down. The thing was a god damn twig when we looked at it last Friday…"

"You're serious?"

"Want proof? Go see that new plant in our room, it's called Franky by the way."

"So if I were to asked a question, it will talk to me or something?", she raised an eyebrow.

Bach breathed out sharply before answering.

"It's plausible…maybe it could convince me to not cut it down."

"If parley is indeed an option the sir, I will gladly engage you in a verbal debate for my existence", the words reveberate softly through the air in a deep British accent as if it was delivered by a butler from Downtown Abbey.

This made the two looked around for anyone else beside themselves before finally to the tree with incredulous eyes.

"Did that thing just do an Alfred impression?", Bach asked while he shifted to hold the axe with both hand.

"I-I believe it just did. Who's Alfred?"

"My apologies for the sudden interruption", the tree visibly bowed while one of its thick branch bent down as if the thing was putting a hand on its chest, "But I guarantee you, sir, that this is no mere impression but my true voice."

"Well shite…"

"I should probably let you guys hash it out then…", Pyrrah was rubbing her shoulder as she back up slowly.

"No, wait…", Bach held out a hand to stop her from walking away, "…just finish your business while you're here, I got the whole night anyway."

"You've probably waited long e-

"Stop being so timid god damns it! You're an undefeated champion for fook sake!", Bach implored, "I promise I won't listen."

Bach began putting some distance between him and the girl.

"Indeed, I do believe you ought to make use of every tool at your disposal whenever possible, Miss Nikos", the tree also chimed in.

"Okay, okay…but it's kind of embarrassing…", the girl gave in but began twiddling her thumb as she tried to get her question across, "Well…it's about this friend of mine, a guy , specifically…I can't seem to get his attention-well I do but…"

"Ah, you are referring to your relationship with Mr. Arc, am I correct?", the tree sounded amused.

"Obviously", Bach scoffed.

"How'd you know?", she whipped her head around toward the undead, "And I thought you weren't going to listen?"

"I'm not far enough yet and please, by this point, I think everybody in the dorm whose name isn't Jaune knows", he began jogging for a few second then hollered, "Now, I'm far enough!"

"I see…", she sighed and turned back to the tree, "…well what should I do?"

"Nothing different from the ordinary, m' lady", this answer made the girl blink in surprise, "Keep waiting and make him lose that little bet the two of you made. The boy will begin to see you differently."

"I see…", she nodded.

"But after that, it is imperative that you take advantage of his new perspective or, at the very least, be very obvious about your intention. Your affection for Mr. Jaune stems from the fact that he sees you as a normal girl. However, a girl must be special to the boy for him to really see her."

Pyrrah stared down as down her knitted fingers, contemplating the words for a minute before looking back up to the tree.

"Thank you for the advice", she bowed her head slightly, "I'll leave you two alone now…"

Bach waited until the young champion has dissapear inside the dorm before strolling up to the tree with the axe resting on his shoulder. As his feet stopped just next to one of its thick roots, the trunk visibly swayed slightly as if the thing had a face and was trying to look at the undead properly.

"Well, you're certainly well-informed."

"Father had blessed me with roots that grows far and wide, quite useful as eyes and ears to satisfy my curiosity", just as it said, a thin root grew out of a thick one and made it way to the dormitory, blending in perfectly with the moss that covered the old building.

"Fascinating", Bach scratched his chin, mentally reminding himself to shave again.

"Pardon me sir, but how shall we conduct the debate? Will there be a moment to prepare our arguments or shall we begin right away?"

The undead leaned on the axe like a cane and sighed.

"Ya know wat, just answer a few questions for me; call it an interview for your right to live if you will."

"I understand. What is your first question, sir?"

"Can you hide my booze?"

The tree was silent for a moment as if trying to formulate a perfect answer.

"If you wish to resume your bootlegging operation on campus, I am capable of providing you a secure yet easy to access storage", one of the large roots moved aside to reveal a small cavity in the earth.

"Hmm, what about the extra camera?", Bach unconsciously drummed the axe head with his finger, remembering how much time it took him to find the blind spots before the extra security came along.

"I've had already blocked or modified all surveillance devices monitoring the courtyard. After all, it is also my wish to remain obscured in the eyes of this world military."

"I can see why…"

"Sir, may I also add that I am capable of draining the heat from anything", this made Bach raised his eyebrows, "Which means that I am able to deliver the beverage at a lower temperature if you so require."

"Cool beer on delivery…", Bach chuckled, "…trying to earn some brownies points, huh?"

"My life is depending on this interview after all, sir. Do you wish for a demonstration?"

"Nah…Alma has my box right now", he waved the tree off, "Let's move on to the next topic…"

"Very well, sir."

"Do you have any info on Fina? Like what kind of plan does she have for Eric and me beside being her incompetent preachers?"

"Unfortunately, I know little outside of students' hearsay and your comments on her; my root have yet to expand beyond the dormitory walls. However, I expect the lady to approach me soon, if you decide to spare me first, of course."

"How so?", Bach raised an eyebrow.

"She is a Goddess of Love and quite the forceful one if your latest interaction with her is any indication. I doubt she is going ignore an entity called the _tree of love_ if her desire is to create a world filled with only her follower."

"Make sense, she might try to recruit you."

"Perhaps."

"What about Yorshka? Cause all I've seen of her so far is looking cool in practice and shooting down invitations to the dance."

"Ah, yes, the Darkmoon captain, she is helping her allies gauging the strength of beacon defense while also preventing any further conflict with your team, you specifically."

"She's that afraid of me?", Bach scoffed.

"I believe the lady is quite confident that she can handle you, sir. However, she is obligated to keep her allies safe. Also, according to your recent discussions with the elder Ms. Campbell, you are quite eager to give them quite a thrashing."

"You've been listening too, huh…Anyway, that's all you have on her?"

"Yes, I have tried to listen more closely but large murders of crows outside her window has been picking my roots clean."

"I see…that's a shame."

"If you wish to know more, sir, you can also ask the lady right now."

"Wat?"

Bach whipped his head around to find multiple tree roots burst out of the ground in the distance, coiling around an invisible figure in the air. Just as they were about to tighten, a flash of purple swiftly cut them to pieces, leaving behind small petals of snow.

"Ah, I am truly ill-suited for combat it seems."

"Indeed, thou art a better thief, daemon", Yohska slowly faded into view.

She was still her disguised form with a rather oversized nightgown that went all the way down to her ankle. This would have been quite amusing to look at if she weren't holding a glowing silver long sword in her left hand.

"Step aside, Unkindled, mine own quarrel is not with thee."

"Thief?", Bach looked at the daemon.

"It was unscrupulous of me to steal from the lady, but you must know that the stolen item was originally stolen from you, sir."

"Ah…an additional bargaining chip for your life, eh?", Bach smiled, "Well, it seems your quarrel is indeed with me, m'lady."

"Prithee, Unkindled", there was a slight hint of indignity in the knightess expression, "Stayeth out of this matt'r."

"You're seriously telling me to stay out a matter concerning **MY** stolen property?", Bach jab a finger at himself, "I'm not just gonna stay out, young lady. I'm **ALL IN** , unless you tell me what it is and why is it that you want it."

For a second, Bach could've sworn he saw the knightess blush as her gaze lowered while she considered his words. Then, with a determinant expression, she straightened up to face the duo of tree and undead.

"I can't bid thee the reason but I've cometh too far to loseth't all", Bach could see her grip on the sword visibly tightened, "I wonneth't hesitate to useth force."

"This is making me curious but are you fucking seriously?", the undead's face was one of disbelief while his eye wonder down to her glimming blade.

"Aye", she raised her sword which was cloaked in a violet layer of magic as runes hummed like prayers in the night.

"Fuckin 'ell, she brought out the big sword…"

Bach clicked his tongue in resignation then tighten his grip on the Dragonslayer axe.

"But prodigious size alone does not dissuade the sharpened blade!"

The half-breed smirked.

"Remember, overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."

"Wat-

The word barely left his mouth when he was forced to deflect a lunge from the knightess. She quickly leaned back to avoid the axe's return swing while bringing her own up for a slash, cutting a shallow gash behind the undead's shoulder. Bach let out a harsh curse and swung for her mid-section. The axe only made a small cut on her nightgown but it keep going as his hand worked with the momentum to bring about another strike and another one, and another one, and another one.

The girl was gradually driven back as the constant swings left her temporarily bereft of opportunity to counter between each dodge. Eventually, one presented itself as the undead brought the axe around for a downward swing. She quickly parried, forcing the axe to strike the ground on her left, and then swung her own blade along the wooden shaft toward Bach's hand. He let go one hand and leaned back to avoid the cut while also ripping his own weapon out of the ground, weakly bashing the half-breed in the side with its flat side as he went.

She merely jumped over and twisted her body for a quick thrust that tore through Bach's flimsy shirt, shredding a piece of his waist. As her feet touch the ground, her hand quickly whipped the blade to the left, a cut that would have split the undead in half had he not rolled out of the way at the last second. There was no reprieve for him though. The knightess immediately closed the distance and let her blade chained into one strike after another, turning the space around them into a torrent of blade.

The Dragonslayer axe shrieked constantly as pieces of metal were torn from its edge while Bach blocked and parried away each cut. Even worse, the undead was slowly getting overwhelmed from by her unceasing advance, making it harder and harder for him to find the space to retaliate. And when he did manage to make a response, it did not end well.

After narrowly dodging a thrust, some of the souls in his head saw a chance and guided the undead to an overhead swing. It was easily parried to the side by the knightess and with a twist of her wrist; the long sword was brought around in a tight circle, tearing a piece of his throat away.

"Fuck!", the cut was not deep enough to stop him from cursing though.

Bach pulled back and summoned a small ember on in his left palmed. Barely avoiding Yorshka next swing, he thrust the ember forward into a muffled explosion with more smoke than fire, engulfing them both in the dark smog. The lack of vision stopped her onslaught briefly, just enough for the undead to make a wild swing toward the great soul that he could feel in front of him. Alas, he still missed.

Yorshka quickly jumped back before the axe head connect with her waist and Bach allowed the soul in his head to force him rolled back, furthering the distance between the two combatants.

"Look, lady, I haven't slept for more than a week and this is making me even crankier…", Bach grumbled with a hand on his bleeding throat, "…honestly this is ridiculous, you're supposed to fight for justice, right? Not robbing people like some bloody invader."

The deep frown on her face told him that something shouldn't be said.

The half-breed flared up her sword with curt gesture and flipped through the air at blinding speed, intending to split the undead straight down the middle. Bach barely dodged the hit when he dove to the side. He took a glanced at his previous spot under the blade then up to the knightess, only he wasn't looking at the same person anymore.

His eyes were staring at a woman, a rather beautiful and imposing one at that. Her raven hair was long and straight, cascading over the obsidian colored armored robed covering her body. This was in stark contrast with the porcelain white skin that was showing through the gaps and damaged portions of her attire. Then she turned to face him and revealed a visage of frightening beauty full of hatred and elegance. Bach didn't know how and why, but he instantly recognize the sharp features of her face as if he'd seen her long before in a forgotten life. Velka was standing before him, poising to strike him down with her next move.

He tore his eyes away for a quick glance at the surrounding and to his dismay; it was a jumbled mess in his vision. The courtyard was now a mix between the actual grass filed and a battlefield full of ash and broken remnant of a battle. Even the dormitory was now fading in and out of a grey sunless sky that was raining more ashes down on their head.

"Who needs shrooms when you're undead…", he muttered under his breath.

Hallucinations of the dead's memories had been plaguing every time he got in any kind of fights. However, he had never seen this before, not with the familiarity at the back of his mind right now.

His contemplation was interrupted by a swing from the raven hair goddess, almost cutting off one of his arm had he not rolled out of the way. Then, a flurry was released by the god of vengeance, quick in every step, unpredictable in every jump and precise in every sword stroke. Yet this time, none connected as Bach dodge, rolled and parried them all with an unnatural ease without the awkward feeling of foreign souls guiding his hand. His stepped felt practiced and instinctive as if his own reflex had been trained and hardened with experience that he'd never had.

The metal screeched as the silver sword scraped against the axe blade, letting the magic flashed wildly against the lighting embedded in the other weapon. This forced the two fighters to back disengaged for a moment and put a wide distance between them. In that brief moment of reprieve, Bach noticed that his opponent was flickering wildly between the giant goddess and the half-breed along with the unstable scenery around. She lunged again in the same jumbled state and again he redirected the blow to the side but things were really confusing for the undead at the moment.

"What the flaming fucking balls is going on?", Bach swung for the goddess/knightess' shoulder and missed.

Though the question was rhetorical, there was answer nonetheless. Somewhere in the deep recess of his mind, he could feel it amidst the fighting, an offer to trade by a flickering ember.

 _Memories for answer_

 _Memories for truth_

 _Memories for memories_

This made him curious. Bach rolled under a sword swing, quickly droved the young lady off with a swipe of his axe then backpedaled to put some distance between him and her. He drew out a few dozens of the souls granted to him by Fina and began driving them inward toward the pit in his mind. His wounds began to light up as fire began to ignite the flowing blood. The ember flared.

He moved in for another clashed with Yorshka as she once again flickered into the image of the raven goddess. As memories from the souls burned to nothingness, something took their place in his mind. He could now recognize the girl's forms and stances, letting see and react to the blow before they were even coming. His whole body turned without a thought or voice pulling his limb and the ease of his movement between the blades was never seen before.

However, the blade works was not the only thing he recognized.

The field of ash plaguing his visions wasn't just any wasteland. It was where the Raven-hair Goddess and her army fought to avenge the greatest betrayal in the book of sins. They came to bring down the pair who had ended the age of Fire and secreted away the first flame from the world. They came to kill the unkindled Lord of Cinder upon the ashen ground left by the end of an Age of Fire.

His gaze fell between the blade, beyond the flickering half-breed and toward the broken weapons littering his hallucination. Those were the remnants of Velka's followers after being torn to pieces by the strength the Souls of Cinder granted to its claimant. And at this moment, Bach was reenacting the duels that ended the battle and taking on the experiences and instincts of the unkindled betrayer while Yorshka was emulating much of her goddess.

Alas, she was a poor imitation of the great Lady Vengeance.

Despite having only this excerpts from the chosen ash's memories, Bach was moving about with all the man skills, strength and instincts, as if his very being was re-molded by whatever he had fed in his mind. In contrast, the half-breed could only imitate the form of her mistress, lacking the speed, strength and experience.

The undead felt the table turned as he parried the blade to the side and jabbed the axe shaft into Velka face. The image flickered back to Yorshka showing a shock expression on her face along with a bloodied nose and Bach wasted no time to deliver a straight kick to her stomach. The empowered blow forced the girl to roll back a fair distance away before quickly flipping back on her feet. Silence once fell upon the grass field like a thick blanket as the two took a brief moment to size each other up again.

Even with her image flickering between the past and present, Bach could clearly see the agitation in her eyes and the blade Yorshka was pointing at him no longer held the same threat. This left him confidence enough to pursue the fascinating memories within, or more specifically the person who used to own it. Thus, he slowly prodded the fire in the back of his mind for an answer, a name, anything.

Nothing

He raised his guard toward Yorshka/Velka flickering image and pushed for answer again.

Still nothing

It felt like questioning his own reflection except the mirror was replaced by the crackling of fire ringing inside his head. He frowned inward and glanced at the knightess again who seemed to be in no hurry to resume their clashed. This made him confidence enough to try out his next bid to satisfy his curiosity. He drew upon more souls, hundreds this time, and drove them inward once again with hope of clarity.

And the world around him disappeared in endless whit space.

"What the…", the sound clashing steel caught Ruby's attention.

* * *

RWBY young leader was strolling through the dorm vacant hall in her pajamas, something she does to clear her mind when it sometimes demands an offering of cookies before sleep. The walks are usually quite dull except for the vista outside the window but tonight wasn't one of those nights. The faint clanging of steel was echoing throughout the hall and it seems she was the only one to hear it at the moment.

"Hello?"

The faint metal clashing was the only answer and the thought of a haunted dorm flashed through her young mind. However, her curiosity had already won the mental battle and it seemed the sound was coming from outside.

"You're a fearless huntress, Ruby Rose!", she muttered to herself and made toward the source.

* * *

Bach was standing that endless white space again, the one in his nightmare right after the incident in the dock. He could still see the ashen ground, grey sky and the phantoms he apparently revealed last time he was there. The ember he had fed was also there too, stronger and brighter with tendrils of cinder that seemed to be forming a shape with it as the heart.

"Didn't realize nightmares has sequel…", he threw up his arm in confusion and frustration, noticing that the axe was still in his hand.

"You chosen lots are indeed stubborn", the gravely smooth voice and low chuckle caught Bach attention.

He turned around to find Lautrec still adorned in his signature armor with the addition of his sickles this time. The man deftly spun one of the vicious-looking weapons as he strolled slowly toward the undead while the bronze helmet concealed any hint of expression.

"My warning fell on deaf ear after all", the word came out husky and dripping with ,alice.

"What! I can't HEAR you!", Bach turned his head sideway and put a hand to his ear in an exaggerating motion.

"Looks like another trip down memory lane is needed", the knight chuckle.

"Well, I'll introduce you to the axe effect before that happen", Bach readjusted to a two-handed grip on his axe.

"We'll see", Lautrec lowered his stance and raised one sickle in front of the other.

"Fuck. You", the undead charged.

And for the next few seconds, time slowed down.

The white space that surrounded them both dissapeared, and Bach was back on the dorm's front yard. His hands were raising the axe for an overhead swing meant for the damn bastard in bronze but he was not there anymore. Instead, out of the corner of his eyes, Yorshka was spinning around with her sword coming up from below. His mind went into overdrive but the flame around his body was gone along with the aptitude it had brought, leaving his body a clumsy and sluggish puppet for the conflicting souls inside.

"Damn it…", Bach muttered as his body could do nothing but followed through with the swing momentum.

His arms came down and were instantly sliced off in one motion from the enchanted sword. The knightess let the rest of undead passed her and spun around for a follow up from behind. The blade came down and split his body from the left shoulder blade all the way down to his waist, stopping just above the hip. The undead instantly collapsed on his knees as the grass was splattered red.

"Huggrh…", he grunted as one of his lunged was cut and the other flooded with his own blood, "…this shit does not get better over time…"

"Doth thou hath any last words?", she withdrew the blade from his back, making the undead swayed slightly.

"Good game, we-

"EEP!"

The undead whipped his head toward the source to find a familiar fourteen years old huntress in training falling on her ass in shocked. He glanced at the knightess to find her facing the opposite direction, trying as hard as she can to conceal her face. The effort was pointless though, as her tail was still flailing about.

"I think…it's best…ack…you leave", the blood was making it quite difficult to talk.

"I dot-

"Do ya still wan-hargggk!", he choked out a gulp of blood, "s-s-stay undercover?"

She was silent for a moment then turned invisible in a conflagration snow petal, disappearing from the yard.

"At…least she's… reasonable", he fell down face first into the grass while his eyes turned toward the dorm front's door where the frightened teenager was.

Ruby sat there for almost five minutes before slowly standing up, using the door frame as support. She cautiously made her way toward the undead lying on the ground with her eyes darting around to watch out for the knightess who was no longer there. After a while, her feet finally stopped just next to back's left arm. The girl was obviously horrified by the bloody motionless body as her fists were pressed against her chest. Her eyes, however, was strangely fixed on the gory mess like a horror movie that she just can't stop watching.

"Take…a picture…it'll last longer", Bach spit out a mouthful of blood on the grass, making the girl fall flat on her behind.

"How are you even alive!?", she looked at him with incredulous eyes.

"Technically…I'm already dead but that's irrelevant rirght now..hacgggk...can you help me with this?", his eyes turned to looked at the frightened girl.

Fear, confusion and fascination were all being rolled into one package that was her expression at the moment. The girl was parralyzed on the spot which made Bach sighed or, more accurately, gargled blood inf rustration.

"Look…there's no need to be scared…", he wiggled the stumps that used to be his arms, "…I'm **unarmed**!"

He raised both his brows and gave the worst bloody smile the Ruby had ever seen. The girl just gave him a confused look for a moment before facepalming with groan. She fianlly got it.

"I thought Yang was horrible…"

"What? You and your sister can make puns at my expense but I can't do it to myself?"

"I-but…", she took a deep breath, sighed and straightened herself, "Alright…do you need any help…put…ting yourself together?"

Bach looked around as much as possible by craning his neck then turn back to Ruby.

"S-screw it. Just keep a look out for anyone else. TREE!"

"What would you have me do?", its voice nearly gave the young huntress whiplash when she whipped her head around.

"The rumor was true…", she whispered.

"Just line up my arms and maybe put the charm on my wrist to somewhere on the main body", the undead sputtered out some more blood, "We might need a name for you."

"Right away, sir…and Alfred would suffice."

Ruby sat there with a morbid fascination on her face as the tree began to drag Bach arms to his body while extracting the metal necklace wrapped around his wrist with its thinner roots. After all the preparation was done, Bach began his chant with the lucky charm placed on top of his head.

 _Up on melancholy hill_

 _There's a plastic tree_

 _Are you here with me_

 _Just looking out on the day_

 _Of another dream_

Light began to form a circle of runes surrounding the undead as his voice labored to carry the lyrics.

 _Well you can't get what you want_

 _But you can get me_

 _So let's set out to sea_

His fleshes started knitting themselves back together as ethereal bell rang faintly through the air.

 _Cause you are my medicine_

 _When you're close to me_

 _When you're close to me_

Finally, the undead was back in one piece without a trace of injury and pushed himself to a sitting position. Ruby's jaw almost hit the ground while he was dusting of some of the grass on his shirt.

"That shouldn't be possible", she blinked while searching her mind for logical explanations, "Not with that kind of injury and…How are you even alive!?"

Bach looked at the girl a clicked his tongue and inhaled sharply, trying to find a way to deflect or stop the girl form asking too much question. Finally, he sighed annoyingly.

"Look, I'll give you the full long explanation but not now. I really need some rest.", he saw that Ruby really want her answers now, "I'm the only one on shift tomorrow afternoon at Kozlov's, so how about you swing by then, eh? Get your answer and give me some KPI too, eh?"

"Promise?"

"On my ancestor's graves but on one condition, though."

"Which is?"

"You keep this whole thing from Ozpin and any of the school staffs."

"What about everyone else?"

"You're a fourteen-year-old in a team comprise of only other nosy girls and your big sister", he scoffed, "Shit's bound to get out, I just don't want it to get to the really annoying ones."

"Ok…", she cast her gaze downward as the consideration passed through her mind, "Well, attempted murder isn't something to be hidden but…ok…"

She extended a pinky to the undead who, in turn, raised an eye brown at the childish gesture. However, he relented after a Ruby made it clear that it was necessary.

"Anyway, why were you two trying to kill each other?", the girls ask as they stood up.

"Too be fair, she was the only one trying but yeah…", he turned his head to the tree branches, "…what the hell was the thing you stole from her?"

* * *

Angus Young's guitar rift was shredding the air while morning sun filled the room, turning this particular morning in into an explosive one, much to Alma dismay. Her ears were flat on her head and her small fingers were massaging temples, an attempt to chase away the drowsiness amidst the thrashing of Rock'n Roll.

 _Livin' easy_

 _Livin' free_

 _Season ticket on a one way ride_

Bach was singing and shredding the air guitar with gusto in the middle of the room while Eric and Liz was busy examining what looked to be matching suits and dresses for the Vytal dance. Alma just rested her head on her hand and sighed.

 _Askin' nothin'_

 _Leave me be_

 _Takin' everythin' in my stride_

"So you got into a fight, got your ass kicked and almost traumatized our schoolmate for…", she looked at the speaker and a devices on the table that looked quite similar to a scroll with the word Samsung written on it, "…for a scroll?"

"It's a phone, my phone, bundled with a chargers and speakers that works in Remnant's sockets…", the undead paused his air guitar solo to correct her, "…and defending that tree also got everybody some nice clothes."

 _Don't need reason_

 _Don't need rhyme_

 _Ain't nothin' that I'd rather do_

 _Goin' down_

 _Party time_

 _My friends are gonna be there too_

"Gotta admit, these are pretty nice", Liz handed her twin an exquisite long red dress with a split running up on the side while holding on to her white skater dress with deep blue lining, "But how did the tree get our measurements anyway?"

"Dunno", he shrugged, "Ask Eric, he's the thing's father."

"That doesn't mean I can read its mind!", Eric protested while checking out his own suit.

"Unbelievable…", Alma just shook her head.

"It's no-

 _I'm on the highway to hell_

 _On the highway to hell_

 _Highway to hell_

 _I'm on the highway to hell_

Bach was interrupted by the ringing of his scroll. He checked the screen for a brief moment before making his way to the door.

"I'll be back in a minutes", he said before closing the door and turned to the hallway.

* * *

Yang was strolling toward him with her hands in her pockets and nodding to the muffled rock 'n roll from team ABEL room.

"Ruby said you're back in business."

"Yep, same prices", he gave his returning customer a smile.

"I'll have the usual then", the money was disguised in a handshake extended toward him.

Bach pushed it away.

"We're doing pseudo dead drop now, put your order and money in the hollow on the tree of love", he jerked a thumb toward said tree's general direction, "And check back later in the evening."

"Being cautious now, huh", the blonde chuckled, "Well, I'll go place my order then, see ya!"

"Spread the word!", Bach hollered as Yang walked away.


	25. Chapter 25: NSA Animal Division

"…so the guy still had enough time to feel himself colliding with the steel since, as it turns out, the brain don't immediately die when you get impaled with a sword, even if it's Pursuer size."

Bach rolled forward under a fireball which proceeded to detonate violently a few meters behind his back as he raised his shield toward the Alma. They were the only ones training each other in one of the open-air practice rings near the back of the Academy which are often vacant due to the lack of supporting equipment such as holograms and dummies. However, the place does offer a nice atmosphere due to its close proximity to the garden and the cliff at the back of the school. As the wind blew, red petals began fall from the tree crowns and drifted toward the two hunters in training only to be disturbed when two clashed once again.

Alma was wearing her jean, tight black shirt and full combat gears which consist of steel toes boots, white fingerless metal bracers and a small pauldron made from overlapping metal sheets strapped to her right shoulder by a black leather strap that ran across her chest. Bach, on the other, thought exchanging his shoes for a pair of metal greaves was a good enough addition to his usual cargo short and polo shirt for this practice.

The bout was similar their usual practice duels with the exception that Alma had emptied all the dust rounds from her Red Guards. Instead, she was using solely pyromancy spells from the list provided by her team recently, instruction description included. This left the practice arena with multiple cracks and scorch marks that for once wasn't cause by Bach's excessively large weapons.

"His last thoughts?", the faunus deftly parried a cut with her tonfa and slammed the other into Bach shield, knocking him back with a blast of explosive dust.

"Huh?", the metal greaves screeched as his heels skidded back.

"Tell me his what was the last thing he thought about", Alma swung her arm horizontally bathing the undead in a swath of flame spewing from one the red guard's exhausts, concealing the coming uppercut.

In response, Bach just rushed forward with his shield as a battering ram, crashing into the small faunus through the fire. She was forced to disengaged with a quick blast from her weapons lest she wanted to be hit with the Zweihander.

"Butter fingers."

"What?", Alma rolled her shoulder.

"His last thought was his mum's butter fingers", the undead was keeping his shield up, its dragon crest glaring at the small girl, "His brother and him love them."

Alma paused for a moment to contemplate the thought. It was an incredibly simple compare to the story about huntsmen heroical sacrificing themselves that she used to read. Yet, it left a sad bitter taste in her mouth like the other stories Bach had shared with her.

"These people who died…their life doesn't really flash before their eyes, huh?"

"Well for some people, yes, but I haven't gotten to them yet, next time perhaps?", he banged the pommels on the edge of the shield, signaling for her to continue with the match.

With a fiery blast to the ground, Alma hurled herself through the air in an arch toward the waiting undead, her pyromancy flame primed on the short end of her tonfa. Bach focused on the faunus and braced himself in respond, failing to notice the small ember that was spinning behind his back. It exploded.

The deafening burst of flame sent him flying toward Alma as she was coming down from the zenith, her hand priming the ember for a very explosive punch.

 _Fus Ro DAH_

The metal charm on Bach's hand glowed and his word turned in to shockwaves that forced the two apart just as the faunus hand was about to connect with his face. They came down rolling to their feet not too far apart, a fact that the undead took advantage of with a downward swing using the full reach of his Zweihander. Alma twisted her body to the side, letting the blade bite into the ground in front of her while responding with a giant fan of fire toward her practice partner. He let the fire crashed harmlessly against his shield and simultaneously twisted the blade for a horizontal swing that crashed against the team leader's tonfa.

Alma was forced back quite a distance as her heels skidded to a halt. She gave her dear weapons a quick glance, feeling relieve that her aura had managed to prevent her tonfas from being split in half by the great sword. On the other side, Bach was standing with his arms open mouthing the word "What is it?" with wide grin on his face. The shit eating grin was soon wiped off when he noticed her smile and the small ember floating near his feet. The resulting blast was much stronger than she expected and the faunus swore she felt the ring shook beneath her feet while Bach was counting the things that were broken as he sailed toward a wall.

"Oh crap", Alma rushed toward the pile of Bach slumped at the foot of the wall, "Hold on!"

"Man…pfft…WATH DITH YOU THAY?", a few teeth were spat out as the undead tried to shake loose the shield from his less broken arm, obvious disoriented from the blast.

Alma crouched down next to her teammate and quickly fished out the Estus from his pocket since his arm wasn't performing that task very well. She tipped the bottle and he took a long sip from it, letting the ethereal liquid mend his wounds faster than any aura the faunus had ever seen. When the work was done, the bottle was taken from her hand and put back into the magic box in his pocket.

"I know you are getting better with pyromancy and all but…", Bach scratch the back of his neck as he rolled his head around a bit, making cracking noises, "…Shouldn't you anger management class start with dummy first before moving on to live target? I'm undead and all but this shit still hurts, mate."

"Sorry…", she sat down and crossed her legs, glancing briefly at the scorch marks on the ring, "…but I need to be combat ready as soon as possible."

"For what?"

"We are showing up at the ambush like Fina demanded, right?"

"Well…", he took off his glasses and began wiping it with the edge of his shirt, "…of course, but you seemed a bit tense about this and we got like what? Two weeks to prepare?"

"And you're way too relax about this, considering how anyone who ends up dead is going to be inside that brain of yours."

"Hey, that doesn't mean I not thinking about it. It's just that I'm confident about my leader's plans, especially the backups", he pulled out a handful of small homeward bones, "Quite elegant actually, just force teleport everyone out if things go south."

"The general isn't going to be happy about students intruding on his ops and teleporting his men, not to mention the problems when Yorhska shows up", she frowned, "She's not going to let us run around freely and she kicked your ass the other night, while pulling her punches."

"Hey, my punches were pulled too…", Bach's put the bones away and his glasses back on before letting out a sigh, "…besides, you have three different plans for her and that's excluding the boner maneuver."

"Oh dust, please stop calling plan D by that name."

"Hey, you're the one who said that first."

"It was an accident!", she took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, "It's just a bit unnerving, how you guys put so much confident in my planning considering last time."

"Hey last time was a success, we all got out of the dock alive with everyone we set out to rescue", he protested while checking his ribs to see if there are back to normal, "And, if remember it right, Liz, Eric and I spent quite a long of time peer reviewing those plans with you."

"Yeah but you know what they say about plans and first contact…"

"And Murphy's law is absolute but that's what teammates are for. We'll deal with it together."

"Thanks", she smiled wryly.

"Well, if it makes you feel any less lonely in the freaking out department, I do have some concern about your aiming."

This drew a scoff from the girl.

"And I thought you're confident about your team leader."

"Her plans, yes. Her aim, no, considering how I'm going to be near where you throw the fireballs. You know what, let's also include Eric's skill with artillery."

"Well, then you probably shouldn't be whining about every live fire practice we'll have since you know, you're one of the people who approved this plan."

Bach's mouth hung open for a few second but there was no comeback for him to said.

"Good point…", he smiled and dusted himself off, "Well, you should get back to position then. My ass isn't going to blow itself up like some Al Qaeda."

"It's okay, you're off the hook for now. We'll go over the plans again, tonight", Alma pushed herself up to her feet, "C'mon, let's get going, you need to eat before your shift begins."

"Aaaaargh…", Back quickly followed suit, "Now that job is a cruel and unusual punishment."

"That's the point, isn't it", Alma chuckled, "By the way, I've been wondering…are all Velka followers undead?"

"As far as my memories goes, yes. The end of the world isn't easy for normal human to survive not to mention…"

* * *

Emerald groaned quietly and clicked her tongue as she watched the two member of team ABEL walk away from the outdoor ring. Leaning against the guardrail, she was observing them from an open walkway overlooking the backyard while a few students moved about their daily lives behind her back. The noise was no distraction, however, as her mind contemplated the faunus and undead from below.

"Did you get dumped by someone?", a distinct voice finally caught her attention.

"Hello, Mercury…", she turned around and rest her back against the railing.

"Oooh, why the long face?", the assassin was as laid back as ever when he made his way next to her.

"I don't think Pyrrah is the only one we'll have to look out for in this Academy."

"You're still concerned about that guy from…what is it… team ABEL right?", he scoffed, "You're overthinking it."

"He kicked your ass."

"Hey! That hurts my feelings", Mercury made a mocking gesture of him feeling offended, "I was caught by surprise. Besides, our little knightess already gave us a rundown of what he's capable of and didn't she promise to take care of him if needed?"

" **Her knight company and she** will take care of him. That's a lot of people for one person."

"The guy does seem hard to put down permanently but hey, he won't be our problem."

"But the rest of his team might", Emerald crossed her arm.

"You worry too much it's giving you wrinkles", he scoffed, again.

The girl promptly showed him a video on her scrolled to make her point. It was a recording of Alma's and Bach's practice duel that had concluded just a few moments ago. Bach was limit himself to just his sword, shield and abilities similar to the ones in Mercury's duel with him a week ago. On the other hand, the faunus was unleashing a plethora of pyromancies that shook the air and threatened to engulf the undead. Fire was being shaped by her into an arsenal of explosive air bombs, mines, streams and even at sometimes whips, spears and what seems like a fan.

"That is some semblance she got, might even be harder to deal with that Nikos little magnet trick."

"This is the tame version", she swiped to another recording, "They were testing this in the forest the other night."

This video showed the whole of team ABEL in the forest, near the gate that would lead them back to one of the Academy many courtyards. A few words of what they said was barely audible for the two assassins.

"…let…a fireball…see the damage…", the few words sounded like it came from Bach as he shrugged.

This prompted the older and seemingly annoyed faunus to summon a crimson fireball on her hand and threw it at a tree. The explosion was undoubtedly loud, it also vaporized the whole trunk and left a crater as large as a minivan for the crown to fall in.

"And it's not a semblance."

"It's not?", Mercury whipped his head toward his partner, showing obvious surprise and concern.

"No…", she fast forward to the part of video where the undead was trying to demonstrate pyromancies, albeit weaker compare to his teammate, "…but it seems like the faunus has a particular knack that make this pyromancy thing quite destructive for her."

"I guess this is going to be one of those troubling individuals we have to report to Cinder, huh?", he sighed and scratched the back of his neck.

Emerald nodded and use her semblance to reach out to one of the crows on the roof, one of the Darkmoon disciples'. Her soul reached into the animal's consciousness and drew up an illusion that contain the message to be sent. After a few seconds, the crow promptly took off to its destination.

"I swear, those crows creep me out when they start talking", Mercury traced the black bird with his eyes.

"It is creepy but we can't deny that the this is way more secure now that communication is being monitored by Atlas's boots."

"Yeah", the boy turned around and leaned also leaned his back against the railing, "But unless this guy start teaching everyone his tricks or this team suddenly pop up at our next operation, I don't think they'll be Cinder immediately concern."

"No, but still, she won't be please with more potential problems."

"You gotta relax before your forehead get all wrinkly, Em."

The girl sighed.

"May I remin-

"SOMEONE CATCH THAT PLANT!"

Both teenage assassins were unpleasantly surprise as their heads were used as platform for a plant and its pot to traverse the hallway. It immediately scurry off as its apparent owner, a faunus name Lisbet, passed by the pair in a dead sprint, yelling as she goes.

"FRANKY! COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANCE!", she howled in frustration as the little thing turned sharply into another hallway.

Franky the burning plant was making its way through the crowded hall of Beacon, drawing the attention of every student in sight and the ire of a poor girl desperate to catch her pet plant. It was quite an interesting spectacle. The small sapling was using its roots over flowing its pots to scurry along the corridor while carrying what seems to be a tiny fireball at the top of its burning crown. The flame flicker as it weaved its way between the students' ankles, making it harder for Liz to get a clear look at and evoking some yelps here and there from several surprised students.

"FRANKY! STOP BOTHERING PEOPLE!", she pounced at the thing as it ran across a clearing amongst the passerby.

Unfortunately, the faunus caught nothing but a puff of black smoke while Franky was on its merry way after launching itself briefly through the air with a combustion. With a huff, the girl scrambled back on her feet to give chase to the plant before it could disappear from her sight.

The chase continued throughout the main buildings and hallways of the Academy. A lot of the students were startled by the pair as they barrel through the crowd, eliciting yelps, but a lot of others also was recording on their scroll. A faunus chasing a burning house plant that breaths fire wasn't a common occurrence around here and it was quite amusing. The long chase sequence eventually led the two out of the main halls and back into the dorms, specifically toward the workshop and its raging forge.

"Eric! Franky's going for the forge!"

The commotion startled the on-shift attendant behind the counter for a moment but he managed to gather his mind in time and began putting up his barrier to entry. Tendrils of gold light began to weave themselves into the shape of small walls, prison bar and chain blocking Franky's way to the forge. But small obstacles were no match for this plant's freakish agility as it blasted itself over them or through the lights tendrils in the few seconds before they could coalesce into anything tangible. On the other hand, Liz was having a much harder time navigating these new obstacle as they did not dissipate quick enough.

"Oh crap…", Eric launched himself over the counter in a desperate attempt to catch the little sapling.

* * *

"Sho youhr dah wath a fruithcaketh?", Bach's knuckles were covering his grin as he tried to work through the huge bite of beef while his other hand was already stabbing for the next one with a fork.

"Just because he owns a bakery that sells both fruit and cake, doesn't mean he's a fruitcake, Bach", Alma's brow was making a perfect horizontal line as she leered at the teammate in front of her.

"Welth, he'th altho…", the undead quickly swallowed his food and began wagging the fork to illustrated his point, "…cook, clean, sew, do laundry and teach Liz how to do her hair."

The pair was sharing a table with team JNPR and it seemed like the few who was listening to the conversation were looking a bit confused.

"Okay…I think you need to give us your definition of fruitcake", Ren asked with the face that said he didn't get the full meaning of the word yet.

Bach took a glance at his team leader and mumbled a "Dang it!" under his breath as the realization dawn on him.

"Right…different world, different culture, different slang…", he mumbled to himself before addressing the table, "You know what, guys, just forget that remark. Alma, yer dad is a cool guy, very responsible with family. Just forget whatever else I said."

Alma narrowed her eyes at him for a moment then with a flick of her finger, a knocked the guy flat on his back with a small explosion just in front of his face.

"The hell as that for?", Bach exclaimed.

"Knowing you, you were probably being an asshole", she calmly when back to her soup.

"Well, aren't you a smart little kitten."

The faunus' ears twitched, and she proceed to give him another mini flame swath to the face which elicited quite the muffled howl from the undead. Ren glanced down to witness Bach clutching his nose and mouth while hastily try to pour a golden liquid from an emerald bottle on to his face.

"Hmm…you said this pyromancy is not your semblance but I've never read or heard about something like this…", the explosive exchanges seemed to have caught Pyrrah attention and made her and Jaune turned away from whatever they were discussing, "…How does it work exactly?"

"More IMPORTANTLY, can you teach me how to make explosions with my mind too!?", Nora leaned forward with excitement on her face and a pancake on her fork.

"Mayb-

"Nope!", Bach had managed to hoist himself back to the table and interjected before Alma could even get the rest of her word out, "I'm not giving anybody else pyromancy lessons and Alma, please don't."

"Aww, but this is so cool. Can't you just teach me a little bit, pretty please!", Nora gave the best puppy dog eyes she has but Bach was showing the his blankest of blank stare.

"Looks, pyromancy works with people emotions and you look like a powder keg of overexcitement, right Ren?", Ren who nod in agreement, "Besides, I already got one case of anger issues sitting across the table, no offense."

Alma just shook her head lightly and sighed as her hands went back to the food, "None taken…"

"Boooooo!", ball of excitement deflated and grumbled as she settled back on her seat, "I thought you were the cool one on the team."

"Flattering gets you nowhere not, even a discount."

"Speaking of team", Pyrrah swivel his head toward the one half of ABEL, "What happened to the rest of your team?"

"Well, Eric's on shift at Kozlov's…", Alma started.

Mentioning the quartermaster name raise a few words of condolence from the group and he team leader could hear someone said "Poor guy…" from another table.

"…and Liz is giving Franky a trim, I think."

"That must be a very…", Bach shoved another piece of steak in his mouth, chew then swallowed, "…good trim considering how long it's taking her to do it."

"Sis is quite particular when it comes to looks ever since we got accepted to Beacon", she shrugged.

"Hey…", Jaune called out while his eyed was still fixed on the screen of his scroll, "Does your plant have burning leaves?"

"Yeah…did we show it to you guys?", the faunus turned her attention to the end of the table.

"Well, you didn't but…"

Jaune turned the scroll around and extended toward the other team end of the table to showed them while everyone else crane their neck around to look at the content. It was a video that showed a faunus chasing a flaming plant across the dormitory halls while streams of light burst out and formed obstacle for the two. However, it seemed like only the bigger of the pair was hindered in anyway and the clip ended in what looked like a mess in the quartermaster workshop. Coincidently, team ABEL received a new message in their group chat.

 _Hey Bach, can you fix stuff other than weapons with your magic? If not, can we afford a new forge?_

The undead took a deep breath, exhaled then turned to his team leader.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK", he pushed himself to his feet, "Can your pack some of the food for me later?"

"Sure", she sighed and moved to get some of the cantina boxes.

With the assurance, Bach march out of the dining hall muttering how even god would avoid smiting someone during dinner and a slur of curses in his mother tongue.


	26. Chapter 26: Let Them Foight!

Eric anxiously tapped his heel against his seat, a boxy AC exhaust, while scanning the surrounding townscape. He could see most of Vale from his perch atop one of the town's taller buildings, rows up rows of houses dimly lit under the light of the shattered moons. Like Fina said, several blocks surrounding the CCT tower had been evacuated for Ironwood's ambush under the pretense of emergency infrastructure repairs. The vacancy allowed Eric to enjoy a sort of quiet serenity as the wind gently flowed through his hair. His gaze eventually fell on the Atlesian soldiers guarding the same rooftop, facing the CCT tower as if he was following Ironwood's order, but closer inspection would say otherwise.

Earlier, his fellow guards had greeted Eric and Liz with an eerie phrase: "Lady Fina had informed us of your arrival and wished to provide you with the optimal vantage point", and led them up to the building like some guests for the evening. Their team leader also had a similar welcoming while finding herself a vantage point from across the street. Not one to question a blessing from a literal goddess, she told the rest of the team to just follow the soldiers. The spot provided was quite optimal and the soldiers would cover for the youngster whenever the general was asking for updates. However, the mellow smiles and golden haze in their eyes were making it a bit creepy for Eric.

"So…Bach said these guys are either mind controlled or hypnotized by Fina, according to the souls in his head", Liz voiced broke the silence and turned his attention to her.

The lithe faunus was leaning against the roof's solid concrete railing with eyes on her scroll, reading the messages in the team group chat.

"...he also assures us that we aren't."

"Really? Hmm…That only took him 20 minutes to answers", Eric rocked back and forth slightly.

"And a bunch of typos", the girl giggled, "Those steel gauntlets aren't really built for texting, huh."

"Still, it's a bit scary how a bunch of people can just be mind-controlled like this. Ironwood probably won't like this."

"On top of us intruding on his little ambush, he'll be livid", she gave him a shrugged.

"Guys, stop sweating over this and focus on the ambush", Alma's voice blared through their scrolls, "The White Fang could show up at any moment. "

"Relax, sis", Liz poke her head above the railing to wave at her sister, who was stoically perched on her own rooftop across the street, "I'll see them coming."

Alma was decked out in her usual combat outfit, boots, jeans and a tight black shirt under partial armor strapped to her chest and right shoulder by a tight harness. The older twins looked like she meant business and the scowl on her face only reinforced that notion. Her sister, on the other, looked like she was coming to an after party with the blouse, short skirt and sneakers. This might have made Liz appears nonchalant, but the team knew full well that her semblance was on maximum output, ready to spot anything with a soul. However, Eric also knew older twin was right to be cautious. The talk about Fina and her power was a good distraction from his own nervousness, but it isn't going to get the team ready for the eventual fight.

If Eric was completely honest, he would tell Liz that the whole situation was ridiculous. A few months ago, he was a university student on his way to drowning his memory of the fall semester in alcohol…or getting alcohol poisoning considering who his drinking buddy was. Now, he was preparing to provide uninvited assistance to a military operation in a different dimension with the assurance of pseudo-immortality from previously mentioned drinking buddy. The military fatigue was also something he had never expected to wear again. On the bright side, the cat girl sitting across slightly to the left of him might become his girlfriend if he manages to not fuck it up.

His eyes wandered to the CCT tower down the street.

"Where is Bach anyway?", he asked the cat girl of his dream.

"Third floor outer corridor, near a bunch of people. From Atlas, I think", she leaned in to have a better look at the tower, "I can't believe no one noticed a sliding flower pot."

"I can't believe he managed to muffle all that armor", Eric shifted slightly and put on a pair of robust military-looking goggles.

With a few turns of a nob, his vision zoomed closer to the glass windows lining the hallway curving around the outer layer of the CCT tower, giving a clear look of the interiors. He pushed another small button around the thick rim and switched to the heat vision which muted all colours into various shades of blue. However, inside the outline a particularly large plant pot was, he saw was orange silhouette of someone crouching like one those Russians on the internet.

"Squatting like true slav…", he chuckled.

"Pardon?", Liz turned away from the tower, looking curious about his statement.

"Oh, just talking about how Bach's been sitting there for…", he paused briefly, "…how long?"

"An hour…", she crossed her arms, "…I have no idea how he can keep crouching like that. My legs would've gone numb."

"As long as he keeps his heels flat, he should be fine…", Eric pushed the goggles up to his forehead.

He slid down from the AC unit and walked up to the concrete railing facing the tower, taking in deep breaths of the cool evening air as he went. He stopped and stare down at the square in front of the tower, seemingly devoid of people at first glance but the goggles and Liz's semblance would say otherwise. Several small light tendrils twisted into a burning cigarette on his lips and he promptly took a long drag. It's a bad habit but the nicotine certainly helps calming his nerve.

After a moment, his ear picked up footsteps and his head turned to see that the lithe faunus had made her way next to him. She waved some of the smoke away before leaning against the railing on her elbows.

"To think everyone else is dancing away the night while we're stuck here playing god's herald…", her scrolled was put away and her eyes stared straight ahead.

"Bach did offer to do this alone."

"And would you actually let him go alone?"

"Well...maybe…", Eric scratch the back of his head, "…he IS an asshole."

Liz chuckled but her eyes were still fixed on the tower ahead.

"Hey, Eric…", Eric realized he voice wasn't as bubbly as a moment ago, "…there could be real people mixed in with the undead."

"But you can tell with your semblance, right?"

"Yeah, there are differences between Bach's soul and normal ones but...well, you know, I-I might…", she didn't have to finish to make her nervousness shows.

"Liz…", Eric gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"L-l-look", he mustered up all the confidence he can, "We all know Bach can throw lighting with a prayer. But I know for a fact that he's as religious as that door and all the 'prayers' I've heard so far are just song lyrics or gibberish."

"Where are you going with this?"

"What I mean is, as stupid as it sounds when he told us, that Bach truly did all of that because he 'believes'", Eric feels bit dumber just by hearing that explanation, "So, well, just have some faith in yourself and you'll do just fine."

"Are you saying I just have to believe?"

Liz's gaze was downcast for a moment, then she chuckled slightly.

"Alright...", she turned her eyes toward Eric and smile.

Just, like that, the bubbly optimism and unflinching confident crept back into her smile as if they were never gone in the first place.

"Yeah, we didn't spend two weeks blowing up Bach and learn nothing", she gingerly turned back toward the tower, leaning against the railing while humming her favorite tune.

"Yeah…", Eric smiled as he remembers the cathartic period shooting his cannon at the woods in preparation for this, "Things don't really bother you for long, huh."

"If I let them do that, I'll be cranky all the time like my sister", she giggled.

"I heard that", Alma voiced her annoyance through the scroll.

The younger twin giggled but before she could retort, she suddenly stiffened and snapped her head toward to the right side of the building.

"They're here!", she called out, "heading into the right side of the tower. Ten people, 3 normal, 6 undead and Yorshka."

Eric straightened up instantly, snapping his goggle down for closer look at the site. For all the pep talk he gave to his crush and the nicotine, he was still completely stiff with anxiety. At least this was better than shaking like a leaf.

"I'm only seeing three people", he tracked the intruders momentarily before they disappeared into the building, "the rest is probably invisible? Bach said Yorshka can do that."

"Alright, stick to the plan and we'll be fine", Alma spoke as calmly as she could through the scroll.

"Yeah", Liz said as she gave Eric a reassuring smile.

He gave her a nod then return his attention to the tower, more specifically, his target, the street that ran below and parallel to the hallway Bach was squatting in. Light began to coalesce beside him as the image of an artillery shell was forming in his mind along with its weight, payload, speed and numerous other specifications to ensure the end-product flies as intended. If Bach does his job, Yorshka will be temporarily pinned and he would only have six 6 undead to blow up. And theoretically, if Eric does his job, everyone will only have to hold Yorshka off long enough for the Atlesians to capture the White Fang. The giantess could even be subdued, but Eric needed to do his job and that meant making sure the shell hits.

* * *

The plan was risky but for Cinder Fall, risk had never been a high price for her destiny. However, changes of plan had always annoyed her. What was supposed to be a simple infiltration had turned into a full-on raid and thanks to the added security from Atlas; anything less was impossible. At least, she got to wear her favorite red dress and feels comfortable. The terrorist was also confident, however, that she would make it out without a breaking a sweat with the help of current company.

Roman might be a greedy asshat, but he was always competent not to mention that psycho girl he had with him. It was always handy to have an illusionist as an ally. However, her greatest insurance at the moment were those unseen and unheard.

Along a winding hallway covered by slightly opaque glass on one side, the group was abruptly halted by a cadre of Huntsmen and Huntresses, all were Atlesian militants judging from their white uniform. The leader, a lean middle-age man with a few strands of gray in his hair, stepped forward with a confident stride only a man sure of his victory would have. Not bothering to draw the blades resting on his hip, he announced:

"Cinder Fall, you are under arrest. Do try to resist…", He grinned, "…makes my job much more exciting."

Cinder leaned her head slightly to get a better look at his five teammates and gave the man a smile.

"Well, mister, I am happy to comply but my friend..."

With a snap of her finger, Yorshka disciples faded in to view. Under the giant's thin veil cloak were silver plates, worn over a rune inscribed priestess robe that glimmered between the gaps. Her gauntlet hand was holding a solver longsword that shone the pale moonlight. She was elegant yet imposing and the huntsmen was further intimidated by the six Velkan disciple appearing behind the knightess.

"And please", Cinder chuckle menacingly, "Do try to res-

 _FUS_

 _ROH_

 _DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_

Glass shattered as a sonic boom shook the hallway, blasting the smaller Darkmoon Blades out of the windows. While everyone could only look on with flabbergasted eyes, a knight clad in chainmail burst out of the nearby potted plant, tackling the giantess out of the building like a truck. Seconds later, just when the silence has returned to the scene, the tower was rocked by a deafening explosion from the outside that knocked everyone on to their back from the sheer blast wave.

* * *

Through the lenses of his goggles, Eric saw a bunch of black clad undead thrown out of the window followed by a tangled bundle of Bach and Yorshka. As soon as they hit the ground, his teammate immediately impaled the knightess' leg to the ground with a broad sword. Eric clenched his jaw, focusing on his high explosive creation and the coming signal.

"NOW!", Alma shouted.

Time slowed for Eric as the shell instantly broke the sound barrier and sailed toward the group of undead below the CCT towers. It smashed into the ground between them in a sonic eruption of shrapnel and dust, shattering any windows caught in the shockwave. The whole intersection was engulfed in a dust cloud that the obscured the tower lower section along with those who was thrown down earlier.

After a few second of silence, Eric turned to Liz. His expectant eyes were hidden by the gear strapped to his head, but the girl understood the question nonetheless. He needed confirmations. She expanded her semblance enough to encompass the ground zero scanning for anyone in the area. Liz quickly picked up her scroll.

"Two undead are still there", she sucked in her teeth before continuing, "I think Yorshka's knocked out but Bach's dead."

"Shit", Eric let out a curse.

He missed and instead of getting rid of all the other undead, he managed to put Bach of commission; it would be a while before the guy can return. On the other hand, Yorshka, as they had dreadfully expected, somehow had managed to shield herself which mean they would have to deal with the giant without their own undead.

"I'll take care of the undead", Alma said though the scroll, "Just give me cover."

An explosion boomed through the air and the older twin could be seen leaping toward the dust cloud in an arc through the night sky. Eric quickly materialized a C7 assault rifle in his hand, a familiar weapon to him thanks to his short-live time in the army. He trained his sight on Alma's destination.

"Above you!", he barely heard Liz before the girl tackled him to the ground while the roof shook slightly.

Eric quickly perked his head up only to lock eye with an armored Pursuers who was ripping its massive blade out from the spot where the terrified Canadian once stood. The EL half of team ABEL quickly scrambled to their feet while the entranced Atlesian soldier nearby them tried to engage the monster. The thing nonchalantly knocked the man off the building with a curt shield bash while dark energy orbs began to materialize around its blade. The Pursuer raised his sword, readying a devastating swing.

Suddenly, a high caliber shot rang through the air and the Pursuer's head was smashed on the side by a sniper round.

"Don't worry gang, we got this!", Ruby's voice blared from their scroll as more shoots hit the monstrosity in the head.

Eric and Liz nodded to each other before making a run for their fallback position. The Pursuer tried to follow, only to find its hovering body anchored to ground by a solid block of ice. One more shot from Ruby found its mark, tearing off a chunk of the helm to reveal an inky black mass of the dark abyss underneath. The thing looked pissed and was pissed. The energy orbs previously gathered was sent toward the ice at its feet, smashing the anchor apart along with part of its legs. Then, the Pursuer promptly raised its shield and did what it was meant to do, pursuing its targets through a hail of bullet and ice shards.

Thanks to a timely warning from her younger sister, Alma was able to spot a diving Pursuer before it could get the jump on her. With a control combustion from one of her tonfa, she deftly pushed herself out of the its crash zone before continuing toward the dust cloud below the CCT tower. The monster knight ripped it massive blade out of the ground as fast as possible and turned around to give chase. It efforted was cut short when the brawler from team RWBY slammed her armored gauntlet into the side of its unexpected face. The buck shots exploded and tore a piece off its helm.

"Awwww. Did that hurt your widdle face?", the taunt provoked the monstrous knight to charge at the blonde with a furious howl.

While Yang and the Pursuer squared off, Alma set off another explosion with her Red Guards for one last leap toward the rest of Cinders' Undead entourage. At the zenith of her flight, she cocked back her right arm and instinctively channeled her anger into a smoldering fireball on the barrel of her weapon. The flaming smashed into one of the remaining Darkmoon blades just before the lithe faunus rolled to a stop beside the incinerated victim. His compatriot, whose skull and ribcage were horrifyingly exposed by the artillery strike, tried to swing at the girl but was struck down by another faunus clad in black and white.

"When you offered us a chance to stop a White Fang operation", Blake cringed as she pulled her knife from the fading undead corpse, "I wasn't expecting actually undead and flying magic knights."

"I really wish we didn't exceed your expectation", Alma sighed and looked up just in time to see more armored reinforcements.

The two faunus jumped back to dodge the two landing Pursuers. One was holding a long double headed axe with both his hand while the other in less bulky armors was wielding a lance and tall kite shield. Their glowing red eyes was intimidating just like first one Alma met but she was better trained, better prepared with her pyromancy and the members of team RWBY beside were no slouch. Besides, they just need to keep these things busy long enough for the Atlesian Huntsmen to capture the terrorist. Hopefully, Bach would come back before Yorshka, the real danger, wakes up. A series of fiery explosion was set off by team ABEL leader with her flame swathes and both side clashed.

* * *

"This is Lance actual, we're still got visual on Cinder, maintaining pursuit", the Atlesian squad leader voice came through the coms before being drown out by weapons fire.

"Copy that, Lance actual, stay the course. We're sending backup to deal with the interruption", James Ironwood gave a curt respond before turning back to the rest of his airship bridge.

The general was practically fuming as he scanned the room for anyone who might have a clue to the chaotic mess down on the ground. Unfortunately, every one of his officer was either just as confused about the affair or too scared to look the man in the eye. The only person with a completely calm demeanor in was Ozpin, but he might be just a clueless judging by the flabbergasted expression on his assistant's face. Frustrated, James slammed his fist against the side of the nearest monitor, almost making one of the officers to jumped out of his seat.

"Does ANYBODY have a CLUE to why are there HUNTSMEN TRAINEE in MY OP?"

"Oh my, I've never seen someone this furious for the aid he's been given", the gentle answer made the general whipped his head around so fast that it could have made his men dizzy.

Standing in front of the door in a loose gold embroidered dress was Fina, the self-proclaimed golden hair goddess of love. She clasped her hand together on top of her stomach and gave James an elegant bow along with such a warm smile that it almost made him forget his anger. Almost.

"How did you even get in here? Who authorized this!?", the general was almost howling when he asked the later question.

"I did", Ozpin answered with a calm voice while absent-mindedly tapping his cane with his index, "Seeing as her enemy, this other goddess named Velka, is an ally of the White Fang, I'd say Lady Fina deserves to be informed of this operation."

"So, you just allowed her on to MY ship?"

"No, James. You did", Ozpin continued before the angry general could ask why, "As you've provided me with enough clearance for any personnel I deemed necessary and she was deemed necessary."

"And you have my utmost gratitude, Sir Ironwood", Fina spoke once again with her gentle and serene voice.

"Don't patronize me, Lady. Is this interruption your doing?", James pointed at one of the large monitor displaying one of the many camera feeds.

"Indeed, but I would call this a much need assistance rather than an interruption, general."

"This is an official military operation and my men had this under control. We don't need any interlopers!"

"Then you're saying these reinforcements from Velka's cult was anticipated?", the goddess gestured at one of the Pursuer brawling with Yang on the screen, "And the squad of Huntsmen were also prepared to combat them in addition to arresting Cinder Fall?"

There was reality in which the general would dignify her question with the response she expected. Yet, the woman was right; they never expected a full raid with the equivalent of a downsized Atlesian Paladin. The huntsmen squad was equipped to intercept an infiltration attempt and even the soldiers posted around the perimeter was only at minimal numbers to keep civilians out. His heavy mech unit would be enough to handle these intruders but they still need another 5 minutes to get ready for deployment and all Atlesian Knights were in the storage bay in preparation for the coming parade. In hindsight, James saw the mistake of basing this whole operation on the bad handwriting of a kid with a drinking problem, undead or not. Thus, he could only glare at the self-proclaim goddess with impotent rage and clenched jaw.

"Wait…are you saying that…", Glynda finally spoke, "You told my students to go out there?"

"Indeed, Ms. Goodwitch, although I never expected my champions and their companions to seek the help of another team", Fina eyed the monitors, "Quite the resourc-

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU EXPECTED!", the instructor stamped her foot as the fury in voice made everyone, even Ozpin himself, flinched, "Those are my students you are putting in danger!"

"I assur-

"James!", Glynda turned to the general before the goddess could even finish, "Get your people down there right now or I WILL CRASH THIS SHIP IF I HAVE TO!"


End file.
